


The Birth of a Swordsman

by NineBlades



Series: Rurouni Kenshin [3]
Category: Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: F/M, chapters tend to be long, some scenes may be more M-rated due to violence only
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-23 20:29:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 30,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12515928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NineBlades/pseuds/NineBlades
Summary: This is the third installment in my Rurouni Kenshin rewrite, this time covering the story about Yahiko coming into his own as a swordsmen.  This unlike the first 2 installments in this series is a short story meant to bridge until the next book.  If you have not read my first two books, The Two Hitokiri's and The Spider's Web, I highly encourage you do as this book picks up right where that left off (also so that you can see the disclaimer that goes with this series).





	1. Glossary

**Author's Note:**

> Since I use some Japanese words and/or phases at times I provide the glossary for the entire work upfront, I suggest that you keep this somewhere easy to refer to throughout the book.

**Glossary**

  * **Aku-** symbol that means evil, also can translated as either wicked or bad
  * **Battosai-** The warrior name given to Kenshin during his days as an assassin during the revolution
  * **Bo-** a long staff could be up to 70 inches long
  * **Bokken-** a wooden practice sword
  * **-chan** \- honorific. Can be used either as diminutive (e.g. with a small child “Little Hanako”), or with those who are grown, to indicate affection (“My dear…”)
  * **Dojo** \- martial arts training hall
  * **-dono** \- Honorific. Even more respectful than –san; the effect in modern-day Japanese conversation would be along the lines of “Milord So-and-So.”  As used by Kenshin, it indicates both respect and humility
  * **Furisode** _-_ kimono worn by unmarried women on special occasions that has almost floor length sleeves.
  * **Hakama** \- similar to pants but pleated and worn only by men during the time of the Meiji
  * **Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu** \- Kenshin’s sword technique, used more for defense than offense. An “ancient style that pits one against many,” it requires exceptional speed and agility to master
  * **Hitokiri** \- An assassin. Famous swordsmen of the period were sometimes thus known to adopt “professional,” names
  * **Kamiya Kasshin-ryu** \- Sword-arts or kenjutsu school established by Kaoru’s father, who rejected the ethics of Satsujin-ken for Katsujin-ken
  * **Katana** \- traditional Japanese long sword (curved, single-edge, worn cutting-edge up) of the samurai. Used primarily for slashing; can be wielded one- or two-handed
  * **Kenjutsu** \- the art of fencing; sword arts; kendo
  * **Oro** \- a phase often used by Kenshin, it has no real meaning, just an exclamation of surprise
  * **Rurouni-** wanderer, vagabond
  * **Sakabato** \- reversed-edge (the dull edge on the side the sharp should be, and vice-versa); carried by Kenshin as a symbol of his resolution never to kill again
  * **-sama** \- honorific. The respectful equivalent of –san, -sama is used primarily in addressing persons of much higher rank than one’s self, or in the romantic sense, in addressing those upon whom one has a crush
  * - **san** \- honorific. Carries the meaning of Mr, Ms, Miss, etc, but is used more extensively in Japanese then its English equivalent (note even an enemy may be addressed as –san)
  * **Shinai** \- Kenjutsu “practice sword,” said to have been developed around 1750.  Traditional constructed of four pieces of well-seasoned bamboo, a small piece of metal inside the “butt” of each stave keeps them aligned
  * **Tabi-** ankle-high, divided toe socks that are worn with sandals
  * **Tanuki** -is the common Japanese name for the Japanese raccoon dog. They have been part of Japanese folklore since ancient times. The legendary tanuki is reputed to be mischievous and jolly, a master of disguise and shape shifting, but somewhat gullible and absent-minded.




	2. Afternoon Tea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is what happens when I have a two week break, caffeine, and nothing to do, enjoy!

**Chapter 1**

**Afternoon Tea**

Yahiko crouched in a fighting stance as he eyed his opponent in front of him.  He mentally calculated the distance as he kept his shinai raised before him.  He licked his lips in concentration as his opponent, a willow tree, swayed slightly in the early morning breeze, the sun only just beginning to rise over the horizon.  Yahiko charged forward and then leaped suddenly into the air and brought his shinai down in a head to toe slash, intending to hit a low hanging branch.  However, when his shinai came down, it missed the branch by several inches and instead slammed into the ground.

“Damn it,” he swore under his breath as he straighten up and faced the tree.  “That wasn’t quite right,” he muttered, scratching his head as he assessed the situation.  _Kenshin’s Ryutsuisen isn’t like that at all.  For one it hits the target._ Yahiko placed his shinai back over his shoulder and walked back a few steps to his starting place before turning and facing the tree once again.  He bit his lip as he once again crouched in a fighting stance, glancing once at his feet to make sure that he was in the right position before raising his shinai, trying to imitate the stance he had seen Kenshin take.  He was so absorbed in checking his stance that he was unaware of a young girl who had been traveling on the road behind him had stopped to watch him.  “It’s more like this,” he muttered to himself as he adjusted the grip on his shinai.

Yahiko sprang forward, he took two running steps before leaping into the air and bringing his shinai down with all the force he could and this time his weapon collided with a loud crack against the offending branch.  What Yahiko was unprepared for was the shock wave that traveled up the entire length of his arm and caused him to yelp out in pain and drop his weapon.  Because of the shock when Yahiko hit the ground he slipped in the still damp earth from the recent rain and land gracelessly on his back.  The sandal from his left foot went flying through the air to land in a clump of grass behind him.

_At least there’s no one to see me this early in the morning_ , Yahiko consoled himself as he sat up, grimacing at the wet dirt staining his clothes.  _Great, now I’m going to get in trouble for getting so dirty. The sun’s barely even up and this day couldn’t possibly get any worse._

Behind him, the girl from the road ran over to the clump of grass and retrieved his sandal before walking over Yahiko.  Yahiko turned around to glance in surprise at the girl.

“Ummm, excuse me,” she said shyly, holding out his sandal.  She was about Yahiko’s age, maybe a little older, her hair neatly tied up in a white handkerchief and her dark brown eyes watching Yahiko in concern.

Yahiko glanced at the sandal and groaned in embarrassment.  _Great now this day can’t get any worse.  I’ve just made a complete fool of myself, in front of her none-than-less._ Yahiko snatched the sandal away and slip it on his foot, trying to salvage what little dignity was left after his display.  The sandal however, only made his embarrassment worse as it immediately slip sideways and Yahiko noticed for the first time that the strap was broken.  He groaned again.  _Spoke too soon, yes, this day can get worse.  A whole lot worse._

“It’s broken,” the girl cried as she also realized the problem.  She gently pulled the sandal off Yahiko’s foot and placed it in her lap.  Yahiko watched in slight amazement as the girl took her lilac colored shawl by the short end and tore off a stripe.  She wound the strip and then carefully tied it in place to his sandal.  “Here, I’m sorry it’s not done too well though.” The girl told him softly as she handed his fixed sandal back to him.

“That’s not true at all, you did a great job.” Yahiko assured her quickly.

The girl smiled happily at him.  “Well good luck with your kenjutsu training, sorry for interrupting you.”  With that she stood up and hurried off down the road.

Yahiko continued to watch her leave before he suddenly realized what had just happened.  “Damnit, I didn’t even thank her when she messed up her own shawl just for me.” He swore.  _And managed to make a complete fool of myself in front of her, as well as getting so tongue tied that I could barely even speak to her.  I’m getting as bad as Kenshin is when it comes to girls._

Yahiko sighed as he got to his feet and faced the tree once again.  “You take me seriously don’t you?” He asked the tree.  The tree however, refused to comment.  He sighed again as he took up his stance once more.  _Okay let’s try this again and I’m not going home till I get this right._

_***_

“Yahiko, Yahiko!” Kaoru yelled as she walked around the grounds calling out.  “Where the hell is that brat?” she muttered under her breath.  “Yahiko!” she screamed again.  _It’s long past his training session and he didn’t show, and he wasn’t here for breakfast.  Where could he have run off to?_   Kaoru stomped around the house to the backyard.  _And now I’ve got to leave, I can’t waste my time looking for him to make sure he hasn’t gotten himself killed yet._

“Is something the matter Missy?” Sanosuke asked from where he was leaning against one of the posts on the porch.  He looked her up and down, noting her wardrobe selection.  _Not bad, not bad at all.  I can see why Kenshin likes living here._

“Yahiko disappeared again!” Kaoru screamed, stomping her foot to emphasis her rage, unaware of Sanosuke’s gaze.  Unfortunately, she happened to be standing on the weak point of the porch that had been damaged by the leaking roof and the boards made a loud groan.  Kaoru glanced down in surprise and then inched away from the spot and onto safe ground.  “Maybe we should avoid that spot until I get it fixed?” She suggested mildly.

“Sounds good to me,” Sanosuke responded in an uninterested tone.  “About Yahiko, you mean he ran off again?  Wonder where he could be going?” Sanosuke puzzled as he rubbed his chin.

“I don’t know but it’s really pissing me off.  There’s no telling what that brat could be sneaking off to do,” Kaoru responded bitterly.  _And it’s my responsibility to look after him damn it._

“Are you talking about Yahiko?” Kenshin asked as he came around the house with the days wash in a bucket.  He set his load down by the well before looking at Kaoru.  Kenshin caught his breath when he saw her, for the first time since he had known her she was wearing a full furisode, a dark bluish purple color that was embroidered with a cherry blossom pattern.  Her hair was also pulled back elegantly on the back of her head and held in place by a silver comb which caught the sparkle in her eyes.  Kenshin blinked several times wondering if he was seeing a vision or reality.

“Yeah, you haven’t seen Yahiko today have you Kenshin?” Sanosuke asked.  He seemed unaware of the stunningly beautiful woman standing next to him.

“Um no,” Kenshin responded vaguely, not even sure what he was responding to, still unable to take his eyes of Kaoru.  _Yahiko, who’s Yahiko?_ Kenshin had in fact seen the boy before he left that morning but in his daze he didn’t recall the scene.

Kaoru however, was too angry with Yahiko to realize the effect her appearance was having on Kenshin.  Sanosuke however was giving the two of them a knowing glance. _Wow, he really has it bad.  At least he doesn’t have his mouth hanging open like a dolt, got give him that one._

“Where could he have gone?” Kaoru grumbled.

“Who knows?  The kid might just want some privacy you know?  Besides I think the real mystery here is why are you’re so dolled up this morning?”  Sanosuke replied.  _‘Cause if you wanted to get Kenshin’s attention you got it Missy._

Kaoru turned on him with angry eyes.  “Don’t you ever call me doll!  It’s insulting!”

Sanosuke shrugged with unconcern, “I was just trying to pay you a compliment.  But seriously why are you in that getup anyways?”

Kaoru sighed.  “Tae is having a formal tea today and I’m under pain of death to show up and look my best.  Believe me I don’t like pulling this thing out, I’m always afraid that something’s going to happen to it when I wear it.”

“It suits you though,” Kenshin blurted out loudly.  He managed to catch himself before he yelled out anything else.  _Stupid, was that really the best you could come up with?  Stupid._   Kenshin suddenly felt the need to bang his head against a wall for his outburst.  He focused on taking deep breaths and listening to what they were saying so he wouldn’t make a bigger fool of himself.

Kaoru turned to him in surprise before smiling happily.  “Thanks,” she responded shyly before adapting a business-like tone.  “Well this still doesn’t explain where Yahiko is.”

“What’s the big deal?” Sanosuke yawned.  “He might have found a girl.  The kid’s clever like that.”  _Got more of a clue than Kenshin does, at least he’ll try not to act like an idiot in front of the girl he likes._   Something Sanosuke was convinced Kenshin couldn’t do, especially now, Kenshin seemed completely unable to take his eyes off Kaoru.

“No way,” Kaoru scoffed.  “That brat couldn’t find a girl with his bad manners, more likely out scrounging for food.  He eats like he’s twice his size.”

“Maybe he’s training on his own,” Kenshin added, seemingly having regained his ability to speak, at least for the moment.  “He probably wants to put what he learns to the test, that he does.”  _There you go Kenshin, you managed to say something intelligent.  Now just keep breathing, focus on what they’re saying, and maybe you won’t look like a complete moron in front of Kaoru-dono.  Well, more than you already have…_

“Not a chance!” Kaoru and Sanosuke yelled together.  _Probably,_ they thought.

“Yes but…” Kenshin protested feebly but he was drown out by Sanosuke.

“It’s got to be a girl.”

“Food, I’m sure that it’s food!” Kaoru retorted.

“This one thinks swords…” but Kenshin’s protest got no further than before as Kaoru and Sanosuke were now facing each other waggling their fingers at the other.

“A girl, I bet you its girl.”  Sanosuke asserted.

“It can’t be.  This is all about food.”  Kaoru retorted.

At that moment, Yahiko walked in through the side gates and drawn by the sounds of yelling, he had walked around the side of the house to hear the very end of the conversation.

“Food, girls?” Yahiko responded, making a face at them.  In shock, Kaoru, Sanosuke, and Kenshin glanced at Yahiko standing in his dirty clothes with his shinai balanced over his shoulder staring at them in amazement mixed with amusement.  “Is this what you guys talk about when I’m not around?” he asked.  “You guys are so sad.”

“You brat, where have you been!” Kaoru and Sanosuke yelled at him.

Yahiko shrugged, “went for a walk, what’s the big deal?”

“You missed your morning lessons Yahiko,” Kaoru told him as she folded her arms and lifted her chin in distain.  She was ignoring his appearance for the moment to deal with his tardiness, a much greater crime in her book.  _Besides, Kenshin does most of the laundry now not me, so if Kenshin wants to lay into him for messing up his clothes once I’m through with him, that’s fine by me._

“Why do you look like a porcelain doll?” Yahiko responded, taking in Kaoru’s appearance.

Kaoru bit her lip before answering.  “I told you before Yahiko that today’s lesson was going to be earlier than usual because I’m going to Tae’s for tea today, remember?” Kaoru growled from behind clenched teeth.  She reminded herself that she shouldn’t beat Yahiko at the moment because she didn’t want to ruin her clothes even as she made a mental note to punish the boy later for his tardiness.

“Oh yeah,” Yahiko responded with wide eyes.  “Whoops.”

Kaoru made a strangled chocking sound before shaking her head and walking down the porch, careful to avoid the weak spot.  “Kenshin build a spit and a large bonfire will you?  I think roasted Yahiko will be great for dinner tonight.”  With that she walked through the gates without a backwards look.

Yahiko made a face at her as she left.

Kenshin shook his head after Kaoru had disappeared, getting his bearings back before he turned to Sanosuke, “Sano this one has lots to do today, would you mind helping out by chopping some wood?”  Kenshin asked.

Sanosuke shook his head as he stood up, “Nah, sorry got a big errand to run, catch you later.” With that, he disappeared surprisingly fast.

Kenshin shook his head and started hauling water up from the well to start the laundry, _typical, the moment he’s asked to do anything resembling work he finds some ‘big errand’ to run_.  “So where were you Yahiko?” Kenshin asked as Yahiko started to try and sneak off.  _Speaking of people trying to get out of work…_

“Just a walk,” Yahiko retorted as he turned to face Kenshin.

Kenshin smiled slightly as he slowly poured the bucket of water into the laundry tub before looking Yahiko in the eye.  “A walk when you should be training?  That’s not just a walk,” he told him with a knowing smile.  “And this is becoming quite a routine for you isn’t it?”

“Hey, I’m still making at least 4 out of every 6 practices a week so don’t worry about it okay?” Yahiko responded as he walked into the house to change.

Kenshin watched him leave before he turned his attention back to the laundry.  _I wonder what Yahiko’s up to?_   Kenshin wondered as he started scrubbing the sheets.  _No matter what the other’s say, Yahiko’s main drive is swords.  Whatever he is sneaking off to do has something to do with that._   At that age Kenshin had lived for nothing but his training.  It was another few years before he started to become interested in politics, mainly the nameless slaughtering that had taken the place of lawful obedience and had felt the need to put an end to it.  _But it is doubtful that something like that is going on now,_ Kenshin told himself.  _But what could be so important that he would go through this much effort to hide it from us?_

_***_

Kaoru walked up to the gate of Tae’s home and knocked politely.  She waited for a few minutes until Tae opened the gate and greeted her.

“Kaoru so glad you could make it!” she exclaimed happily.  Then she looked Kaoru critically up and down, “You know you could have put on some make up.”

Kaoru made a face at her as she took in Tae’s appearance, Tae was dressed in one of her best kimonos, but unlike Kaoru, she wore the more subtle clothes and style of a married woman.  Her hair was done back in a knot and unadorned, unlike Kaoru’s.  And she wasn’t wearing any makeup either.  “Look I’m here, I dressed in my best, even did my hair up fancy which took forever.  Just be happy with what you got.  Besides it’s not like you’re wearing makeup either.”

Tae sighed.  “Well I guess you’ll do, and I don’t want to draw attention away from you dear since I knew you would probably forget about that as usual.  Oh and promise me that you’ll be on your best behavior,” Tae pleaded as she led Kaoru through the small courtyard and into the house.

Kaoru glanced at her out of the corner of her eye as she slipped off her sandals at the door and walked in.  “Of course I’ll be on my best behavior.  This is a formal tea with the girls.  And what do you mean draw attention away from me?”

Tae stopped in front of a door and started brushing invisible dust particles from Kaoru’s furisode and generally fussing over Kaoru’s appearance.  “Well to be honest neither Tami nor Mariko could make it today.”

Kaoru tilted her head, a horrible suspicion beginning to form in her mind.  “So it’s just you and me then?” she asked, already suspecting the answer.  _She better not have done it, not again.  I’ll never forgive her if she did it again._

“Well…” Tae began, “not exactly.”  With that, and before Kaoru could protest, Tae opened the door and dragged Kaoru into the room with a surprisingly firm grip on her elbow.

Kaoru’s first impression was a well-furnished room filled with sunlight and a gentle breeze blowing through the double doors that opened into the back courtyard where the music from several wind chimes filled the air.  Overall, it was a pleasant setting, until a young man saw them enter with slight surprise and stood up to greet them.  Kaoru gritted her teeth.  _That’s it!  She did it again.  I can’t believe Tae would set me up like this again, especially with how badly things have worked out every other time she’s done this to me.  Note to self, kill Tae after today and hang her body up for display so everyone in Tokyo knows not to try and set me up with a man._

“Akira-san, this is my friend I was telling you about Kaoru Kamiya.  Kaoru this is that friend of Tami’s that I told you about Akira Yamzaki.” Tae said as she introduced them.

Kaoru smiled presently even as she swore in her mind against her present circumstances.  She and Akira bowed politely to each other.

“If you both would excuse me while I get the tea things.  Please make yourselves comfortable.”  Tae invited them before she bowed to them and left the room with a smile.

_I hate you so much right now,_ Kaoru thought bitterly.  _Just go on, you’ll take your time as usual, so long as there’s no screaming it will be at least a good quarter of an hour before you’ll come back leaving me in a very uncomfortable position._ She glanced at Akira who looked uncomfortably back at her.  She waited until he sat back down before she joined him sitting across from him at the table, the furthest she could be from him.

“Kaoru-san is it?” Akira asked hesitantly after awakened silence between them.  “Tae-san told me that you’re the assistant master of your own kenjutsu dojo, is that true?”

Kaoru took a deep breath before answering.  She had wanted to avoid a conversation, sure that if she said anything she would start screaming all of her frustrations at this poor unsuspecting man.  “Yes that’s correct.”  She replied, proud that it was even in a level tone.

“I see, I find that hard to believe,” Akira replied softly.

“And why is that?” Kaoru asked in a frosty tone.  _Typical, why are men so intimidated just because I’m good at something that is a male dominated arena?_

Akira’s eyes opened wide in surprise, “I meant no offensive, it’s just when Tae-san was telling me about you I had a different picture in mind that’s all.”

“Oh really?” Kaoru answered, still not sure what to make of him.

Akira laughed nervously as he answered, “yes to be honest I imagined you to be older and a good deal rougher.  I certainly didn’t image someone as lovely as you.”

Kaoru’s eyes open slightly and she felt herself blushing at the compliant, “thank you,” she muttered back embarrassed.  _He thinks’ I pretty!  No one says that, and he doesn’t seem imitated by me teaching kenjutsu,_ Kaoru thought in surprise.  M _aybe Tae actually did a decent job on this guy._ Kaoru felt her anger start to fade away.  _He’s worth at least talking to._   But even as she thought that she felt a pang as she compared him to Kenshin, _Akira say’s I’m lovely, the best Kenshin has ever said is that this getup suits me.  Well he also calls me -dono, but he calls every woman that so I guess it doesn’t count._

“So where is your school exactly?” Akira asked with curiosity.

“On the east side of town, the Kamiya dojo.” Kaoru answered promptly, and in a far more polite tone than before.

His brow furrowed in puzzlement, “the east end of town, isn’t that the Battosai school?”

“We were framed.  We had nothing to do with that killer!” Kaoru retorted louder then she intended.  She took a look at Akira’s shocked expression from her outburst before instantly regretting her tone, _got to keep my temper under control, I did promise Tae that._   “I’m sorry, that was harsher than I intended.” Kaoru apologized.  _He seems like a rather soft-spoken man, not used to being yelled at._

Akira just shook his head.  “No apology needed, after all I did just imply that you had something to do with that murderer.  I should be apologizing to you.”

Kaoru smiled back at him and the conversation lagged.  Kaoru could tell that Akira was desperately searching his mind for another topic as he glanced at the door waiting for Tae to get back.  Kaoru on the other hand knew that Tae would be at least another 10 minutes, possibly longer, so she was patient.  She did decide to take pity on Akira and restart the conversation.  “So Akira-san what is that you do for a living?”

Akira looked back at her with a grateful smile.  “I work for the government, with the Treasury, a minor position and very dull I’m afraid, I deal mainly with the accounting aspects.”

“I see,” Kaoru replied.  It was the best response she could come up with.  _Well that gives us practically nothing to talk about._ Now she was also searching her head for a topic. 

“To tell the truth I’m not even sure why I’m here,” Akira blurted out suddenly before he flushed at his outburst.  Kaoru looked at him in surprise.  “You see my sister dragged me here on my day off and then she had to run off to do something so I feel very out of place.  Considering that I only met Tae-san once before this.  I really don’t know why I’m here.”  Akira finished in an embarrassed tone.

Kaoru smiled politely back at him, even while she felt sorry for his predicament.  _Sounds just like that convening Tae, dragging some poor soft-spoken young man into something of which he has no idea of just to marry me off._   “You know Akira-san.  I know exactly what you mean, to tell the truth I feel the same way about this.” Kaoru confided in him.

***

Kenshin carefully stirred the food, busy with the meal preparations.  He hummed softly under his breath before he heard the soft pad of feet across the floor as an intruder stealthily crept towards him.  His eyes narrowed as he tracked the intruder’s movements behind him.  _So he thinks he can steal from Kaoru-dono then?_   Kenshin thought to himself as a slight flicker out of the corner of his eye immediately identified the prowler _well I’ll show him!_   Kenshin tensed as the footsteps crept closer and closer in preparation for taking Kenshin by surprise.  Without warning, Kenshin turn around with a jump, landing in a crouch with a yell, hands outspread.

The intruder, Freckles, jumped at Kenshin’s action before crouching down, with ears back and a low growl.

“Oh come on Freckles, you should be a good loser, that you should.  Do you really think I’m going to let you steal anymore of Kaoru-dono’s food?  She gives you plenty and you should be happy with that, that you should.”  Kenshin lectured the cat.  He extended out a hand to rub Freckles head. 

Freckles eyes went flat and with a hiss he swiped one paw at Kenshin’s outstretched hand before taking up his low growl once again.  Kenshin withdrew his hand before Freckles scratched him.  He then sat back on his heels and observed the animal with pursed lips.

“You are really a spoil sport you know that?”  Kenshin told him seriously.  He stood up with a sigh, opened one of the jars on the shelves, and extracted a small pickled fish.  “I suppose then that you don’t want the loser’s reward?” Kenshin asked the creature.

Upon the offer of food there was a sudden transformation in Freckles.  He stood up from his crouch, perked his ears forward, and looked at Kenshin with wide, pleading eyes.  “Meow,” he called pleadingly.

“Oh so you want to be friends now?” Kenshin asked.

“Meow,” Freckles answered as he walked up to Kenshin and started rubbing his legs, purring loudly.  He finished by dropping to the ground and going belly up with a stretch, keeping one eye on Kenshin to make sure that his performance was being believed.

“Very well then, this one accepts your apology, try to be a better loser next time and you might get two treats, that you might,” Kenshin informed him as he gave Freckles’s belly a few rubs before tossing the fish on the floor behind Freckles.  Freckles suddenly twisted away from Kenshin, managed to leap forward, and grab the fish firmly in his mouth. 

He looked back at Kenshin with wide eyes, “meow?” he asked. 

Kenshin nodded his head, “yes you may.”

Freckles walked over to one corner and settled down, still purring loudly as he began to consume his treat.  Laughing silently to himself, Kenshin turned around to tend to the pots on the stove.  “Do you need something Sano?” Kenshin asked as he carefully worked among the pots, not even looking up to his friend who was standing in the doorway.

Sanosuke had been standing behind Kenshin throughout the exchange with Freckles and was looking at Kenshin with disbelief.  “Is this seriously what you do all day when I’m not around?” he asked in incredulity.

Kenshin shrugged as he tasted some of the food.  “Sometimes, usually Freckles is a better sport with the game though.”

Sanosuke lick his lips slowly, “that’s it, I’m dragging you out tonight for some fun and I’m not taking no for an answer this time.  You really need to get back in touch with reality.”

“What are you talking about?  This one’s in touch with reality, I’m not crazy, that I am not.” Kenshin told him.

One eyebrow went up as Sanosuke observed his friend.  “Never mind what I said before, I’m dragging you out every night for the next week or so.”

Kenshin rolled his eyes and turned back to his preparations.  “Sano, going out with you usually means either drinking or gambling, and possibly fighting, meanwhile here I can do something useful.”

“Like talking to a cat as though he understands you?” Sanosuke shot back.

Kenshin thought about it for a moment, “maybe you do have a point.”

“Course I do, anyways is the food done yet?” Sanosuke asked leaning forward.

Kenshin sighed.  “Yes, yes that it is.”

“Great, I’m starving.” Sanosuke announced as he stepped in the kitchen and peeked into the pots.  “Looks great, but then anything does after the Missy’s cooking.”

“I thought you had some big errand to run today?” Kenshin retorted as he smacked Sanosuke’s hand with a wooden spoon before he could start picking at the food with his fingers, _it’s like living with a two year old at times, he’s worse about stealing food than Freckles._

“Ow, that hurt,” Sanosuke moaned as he sucked on his wounded hand.

“Just get the bowls ready, and pull down a tray or two,” Kenshin ordered him sharply, “and then go find Yahiko and tell him lunch is ready.  He’s probably hungry since he didn’t have breakfast with us this morning, that he did not.”  _Got to get what little work I can out of you. I’m learning that trick from Kaoru-dono._

Sanosuke groaned as he shuffled across the kitchen and pulled down the bowls and trays, annoyed with the fact that he was having to do work of any kind.  Then he stuck his head out the kitchen door.  “YAHIKO, FOOD!” he shouted in a voice that could probably be heard down the street.  “Like that?” Sanosuke asked turning to Kenshin.

Kenshin looked at him dryly, “I could have done that Sano.”  _Didn’t I just ask for you to find him, not yell for him?_

Sanosuke shrugged, “then why didn’t you?”

Kenshin rolled his eyes as he picked up the pots and moved them to the tray’s as Yahiko came shuffling into the kitchen and flopped on the floor.

“Well everyone eat up,” Kenshin told them happily, Sanosuke needed no prompting as he dished out an extra-large portion of rice and started chowing down.  Kenshin quickly served himself, knowing that between Yahiko and Sanosuke if he didn’t grab his food quickly then there would be nothing left.

Yahiko moved as though in a haze as he prepared his bowl of food and chewed slowly as though in deep thought.  Kenshin noticed his actions, _strange, usually we’re having to tell Yahiko to slow down before he chokes and dies.  It’s odd for him to eat so slowly, especially since he didn’t have breakfast.  And he is also eating less than usual._   Kenshin observed as he eyed Yahiko’s small portion, at least half the size as the boy usually consumed.  “Yahiko you aren’t eating much, is everything all right?” Kenshin asked him in concern.

“Huh?” Yahiko asked, picking his head up and looking at Kenshin as though only just noticing him.

Sanosuke looked up from his food and also took Yahiko’s appearance under observation, his eyes fell on Yahiko’s sandals which he had tucked into his kimono and he instantly noticed the makeshift tying job that the girl had done earlier.

“Hey what happened to your sandal?” Sanosuke asked him slyly.  “Could it be that you got your girl to tie it together for you?”

“Girl?” Kenshin asked, his head whipping around to face Sanosuke.  _Since when has Yahiko had a girl?  Besides he’s still a little too young for that sort of thing, but it would explain his erratic behavior lately._

“No it’s not that at all,” Yahiko protested quickly, blushing slightly.

“Oh yeah, why are you blushing then, huh?   Oh come on, you can tell us, we won’t say anything.”  Sanosuke goaded him.

“I don’t have a girl!” Yahiko yelled at him, his face now beet red.

“Then why is your sandal tied up with a lilac tie?  Unless you think it brings out the color of your eyes.”  Sanosuke retorted.

Yahiko sputtered unable to answer. 

“Now stop it Sano, let the boy be,” Kenshin instructed him gently.

“Kenshin stop being such a spoil sport, I just want to know if she’s pretty or not.”  Sanosuke answered with a wide grin.

“I DON’T HAVE A GIRL!” Yahiko screamed again.  He slammed his bowl on the floor and then stormed out of the kitchen. 

Sanosuke started laughing the moment that Yahiko left and Kenshin turn on him.  “Sano, that was unnecessary.  You should have just let things be.  Yahiko wouldn’t lie you know.”  Kenshin told him harshly, angry that Sanosuke would embarrass Yahiko so.  _Sometimes I wish he would act his age._

Sanosuke chuckled as he answered Kenshin, un-offended by his harsh tone.  “Kenshin it was a bit of harmless fun, besides a little bit of embarrassment isn’t going to kill the kid.”

“No but it makes you look like an ass,” Kenshin told him bluntly.

Sanosuke scratched his jaw in thought, “maybe I am.  But then I don’t get tongue tied when I see a girl all dolled up like you did this morning when the Missy walked out.”  _Wow, Kenshin actually swears?  Don’t hear that very often.  In fact, I can’t remember him ever swearing._

Now it was Kenshin’s turn to turn beet red.  “I didn’t get tongue tied.” He protested in a strangled voice.  _Mostly, at least I was able to pull it together there in the end.  That’s what counts right?_

Sanosuke’s eyebrows raised, “speaking of lying…”  He told him with a pointed look, “I wouldn’t call blurting out ‘it suits you though’ the smoothest line ever.”  Sanosuke told him, mimicking Kenshin’s voice as he repeated Kenshin’s words from that morning.

Kenshin made several strangled noises before answering, his face getting redder as he remembered the incident.  “Well it did, she looked nice.” Kenshin protested hotly.  _Better than nice actually._   But there was no way he was going to say that to Sanosuke.

Sanosuke leaned back and observed Kenshin for a moment.  “Wow, was that really your idea of a pickup line?  ‘Cause if it was then I doubt you’ve gotten far with a woman, probably still a virgin, am I right?”

Kenshin clenched his jaw in anger, his face by this point almost the same shade as his hair.  He grabbed his and Yahiko’s bowl and stormed out of the kitchen after Yahiko who was sitting outside on the porch.  Kenshin sat next to him and handed him his bowl. 

“Sano being a jerk?” Yahiko asked with a raised brow as he looked at Kenshin’s beet red face.

“Sano’s being a jerk,” Kenshin answered him shortly.

Meanwhile back in the kitchen Sanosuke watched Kenshin join Yahiko outside.  He glanced at the pots of food.  _Looks like more for me,_ he thought as he grabbed another helping.

***

Kaoru helped Tae in cleaning up the tea things by carrying them into the kitchen after Akira left.  Then Tae loaned her a strap to tie back her long sleeves and apron so that she could help with the washing.

“All right then, I’m ready for that chewing out that you have probably been dying to give me.  So go on and tell me what’s wrong with this one.” Tae told Kaoru as she started scrubbing the dishes.

Kaoru tilted her head as she started drying the dishes as Tae finished washing them.  “Actually Akira was rather nice, and he didn’t get all intimated and defensive like every other guy has when he learned I was an assistant master, in fact he seem rather impressed.”

“So you liked him?” Tae asked with a gleam in her eye.

Kaoru gave her a look, “yes but don’t get your hopes up Tae, the most he could be is a friend so don’t try to match us up okay?”

Tae pouted, putting her wet hands on her hips.  “Why not?  You just admitted he was the best one you’ve met, what’s the harm in another social event or two for you two to get to know each other a little better?”

Kaoru sighed, “Tae, I don’t need your help in this whole marrying business so you can stop worrying about it.”

Tae turned back to her dishes, “you said you don’t need my help,” she said slowly, reflecting on the implications of Kaoru’s words.

“Yeah, so?”

“Well you’ve always said that you don’t _want_ my help,” Tae responded, stressing want.  “Never that you don’t _need_ my help.”

“Want or need,” Kaoru responded with a shrug, “what’s the difference?”

“Want implies that you don’t want my help in meeting someone, need implies that you already have someone in mind and you don’t want me to get involved.”  Tae told her with a sly look.

_Oh crap!_   Kaoru thought in panic. 

“So Kaoru,” Tae continued slowly, “do you have someone special in mind?”  She asked as she turned to face Kaoru with a smug look on her face as she observed Kaoru’s panicked expression.

“Umm…” Kaoru began, biting her lip, _Tae’s expression isn’t helping, she looks like Freckles does when he manages to get away from Kenshin with part of supper._   “Maybe…”

“Oh really?”  Tae’s tone carrying worlds of meaning.  “So come on spill the beans, is it someone I know?” she asked excitedly.

Kaoru wrangle the towel in her hand as she tried to face Tae’s piercing stare.  She felt horribly embarrassed and wished that Tae would just stop but she knew that was as likely as Sanosuke suddenly acting with perfect manners and decorum.  “Tae can we talk about something else please?” Kaoru mumbled, her face going completely red and she looked at floor, no longer able to meet Tae’s eyes.

“I don’t think so!” Tae called out excitedly, grabbing Kaoru’s shoulders and shacking her until Kaoru looked up again.  “I’m not letting you out of this house until I get some answers out of you.  So start talking.  What’s his name?”  Tae asked again, practically bouncing up and down in excitement.

Kaoru groaned and glanced down again.  “Kenshin,” she mumbled under her breath.

“What was that?” Tae asked, leaning in a little closer to hear.

“Kenshin,” Kaoru muttered again.  Her face growing even redder.

“KENSHIN-SAN!” Tae yelled releasing Kaoru in her amazement.

“Shhhh,” Kaoru responded, waving her hands frantically to hush Tae, “you mind not telling the whole world?” she hissed in embarrassment.

Tae just looked at her, her hand clamped over her mouth in her shock. 

“What’s going on in here Tae?”

Kaoru and Tae jumped a little as they turned and faced the elderly figure of Tae’s mother in law, Chikoyo Sekihara.  Her face was drawn in a stern glare as she looked with distaste at the two of them.  Her nose slightly in the air as it always was when she addressed her daughter in law.  Her features were plain.  Her face showed stern frown lines as though she had never smiled a day in her life and her gray hair was pulled back strictly on the back of her head.

Tae faced Chikoyo with a look of absolute disdain that almost perfectly matched the expression on Chikoyo’s face.  “Nothing, Kaoru and I were just having a talk, why don’t you go back to polishing your horns or something?” she snapped.

Kaoru’s brow’s raised in amazement at the harsh tone of her friend.  She sat quietly not wanting to get involved in the impending fight.

A single brow went up on Chikoyo’s face, “you will watch your tongue when you speak to me girl,” she hissed at her.  “This is still my home and you have no say in how it’s run.  I’ve already given you enough leeway in that little get together of yours so why don’t you go back to the shop where common trash like you and your friend belong,” she finished with a meaningful glance at Kaoru.

Kaoru didn’t even have a chance to respond before Tae did, and even if she had, she knew better than to get involved or rise to such a challenge.

“Fine,” Tae said as she got to her feet, took off her apron, untied the strap which held her sleeves back, and throwing both items violently on the ground.  She grabbed Kaoru, hauled her to her feet, and dragged her up to Chikoyo, “your house, your washing,” Tae hissed in her face and then marched Kaoru out of the house and down the street before Chikoyo could respond.

“So I see you and Chikoyo-san still aren’t getting along,” Kaoru commented mildly once they were safely away from the house.

“That’s an understatement,” Tae replied with a sigh.  “That woman has been giving me nothing but grief since I got married.  For the past five years she’s been convinced that I was barren and that Nobuyuki should divorce me.  And when we told her that I’m now expecting she started calling me a liar.  Right now when it’s just the two of us alone it degrades into scenes like that.  So they haven’t been letting us be in the same room much.”

“Wow, sounds horrible.  So what are you going to do for the rest of the day until the shop closes and Nobuyuki gets off?  I’m mean, you can’t work in that kimono, you’ll just ruin it.” Kaoru pointed out.

“That’s okay.  I’ve got a spare work kimono at the Akabeko for situations like this, and besides this is avoiding the real issue.”  They had just reached the back of the Akabeko, Kaoru had taken off the apron Tae had lent her and untied the strap, giving both to Tae before they both sat down on a crate.  “So tell me just what is yours and Kenshin’s relationship?”  Tae asked her in a tone that brooked no argument.

“What relationship?” Kaoru asked rolling her eyes.  Now that the secret was out she saw no reason to hide anything from Tae.  If fact, she welcomed her friend’s advice, Kaoru knew that when it came to relationships Tae was the master and she was the unwilling apprentice.  “He’s not even interested in me.  He’s all swept away by Megumi.”  Kaoru muttered unhappily.

“What!” Tae exclaimed, “Oh honey.”  Tae cried as she wrapped her arms around Kaoru and hugged her.  “Come on.  Tell me exactly what’s going on.  Does he go to see Megumi often then?”

“No,” Kaoru said with a shake of her head.

Tae wrinkled up her face, “so what’s he do then, write her letters or something?”

Kaoru shook her head, “not that I know of.”

Tae pursed her lips, “does he talk about her all the time then?”

“Hardly ever.”  Kaoru replied glancing at her friend.

Tae looked at Kaoru in disbelief, “so what exactly does he do then?” she asked slowly.

“Well whenever Megumi’s around and upset or in trouble Kenshin just jumps in and tries to cheer her up and stuff like that.”  Kaoru tried to explain.  _And when she’s around it’s like I don’t even exist to him,_ she thought sadly.

“But that’s only when she’s around,” Tae got a nod of affirmation from Kaoru.  “So when exactly does he see Megumi-san then?”

“Well when we go to the clinic or she comes by the dojo.”

“And how often does Kenshin leave the dojo?”

“Rarely, only when we come into town for shopping and the like or I send him out on an errand.  Oh and sometimes Sanosuke drags him off for one thing or another, usually drinking or gambling, but Sanosuke does most of the drinking and all of the gambling while Kenshin just watches.”

“Well he can’t be sly, not from what I’ve seen,” Tae added deep in thought.

“Tae!” Kaoru replied in shock.  _How could she even think that?_

“So he’s a young man, who doesn’t go out of his way to see or interact with Megumi, who you claim he’s in love with, and instead spends all of time with you, pretty much only leaving when you send him on an errand.”  Tae summed up, seemingly unaware of Kaoru’s expression.  “And he’s not sly.” She finished.

“What are you saying Tae?” Kaoru asked in confusion, not understanding what Tae was getting at.

Tae licked her lips as she realized Kaoru really didn’t understand, once this realization hit her she slapped her palm to her forehead.

“Tae what are you doing?” Kaoru called out as she grabbed her friend’s hand.

“Just completely amazed by your sheer stupidly!” Tae retorted.  She grabbed Kaoru’s shoulders and told her in a firm voice.  “How can someone as smart as you, who’s lived almost entirely around men their whole lives still be so completely clueless about them?!”

“Tae, you’re hurting me,” Kaoru protested.

Tae let her go and covered her face with both hands.  “I can’t even look at you right now, I’m so embarrassed.  How can you possibly be my friend when you’re so impossibly stupid?”

“Tae what are you talking about?” Kaoru demanded, stung that Tae would call her stupid and clueless in less than a minute.

Tae dropped her hands as she looked Kaoru in the eye.  “You think Kenshin is in love with another woman when he spends all his time around you.  Let’s not leave out the fact that when you’re around he lights up like a firefly.  How could you possibly think he wants Megumi when he so obviously fancies you!”  Tae told her pointedly, wagging her finger.  “And don’t say I’m wrong, I’ve got eyes of my own and I knew from the first time we met that he liked you, why do you think I assumed he was your lover huh?”

“You think he likes me?” Kaoru replied in shock.  “But he’s never says anything thing like that.   He never even pays me a compliment, not really.”  _But Tae’s never been wrong about things like this, not ever.  Could Kenshin really like me?_   If he did, Kaoru was willing to do almost anything to get Kenshin to act on those feelings.

“I’m not surprised,” Tae said with a sigh.  “You are completely unapproachable at times.”  _And you somehow always managed to put your foot in your mouth and never even realize it.  It’s embarrassing sometimes._

“But why would he be interested in me, no one’s ever been interested in me?” Kaoru whined, trying hard to hold back the sobs threatening to escape, she had just managed to steel herself to the idea of Kenshin and Megumi together and now having Tae telling her blank face that she might actually be able to be with Kenshin herself was too much of a shock.

“What are you talking about?” Tae asked her in surprise. 

“You’ve always been the one the boy’s have liked, never me.”  Kaoru told her in a small voice as she stared at her feet.

Tae shook her head, “that’s not true and it never has been.  Between the two of us you’ve always been the pretty one.  Me at my best doesn’t even come close to you at your worst.”  _Well maybe at her worst,_ Tae thought as she remembered Kaoru when she was younger.  “On top of it, you’re the smarter one in most things, reading men is not one of your talents though, more gifted, and let’s not forget your skill with a sword.  Men find that rather appealing, if you doubt me on that I’ll drag Nobuyuki out here and he’ll tell you and you know he won’t lie.”

“But, but,” Kaoru protested as she glanced up to her friend, trying to absorb everything that Tae was telling her. 

“Kaoru listen to me,” Tae told her earnestly, “the reason why no man has probably ever said anything to you is that they find you rather imitating and they probably think that you’ll just reject them anyways.  But if you want a list of names of boy’s who were sweet on you at one time or another, I’ll give it.”  Tae assured her.  “let’s see there was Takahiro, Kazuki, Osamu, Daiki…” Tae began to recite, her face screwed up in concentration.

“Daiki, wasn’t he the one who ate sand and lived over by the rice market?” Kaoru interrupted in puzzlement.

“I’m sure he grew out of that,” Tae waved her off.  “Anyways the point is to stop being Kaoru the assistant master of the Kamiya Kasshin-ryu all the time, and start being the Kaoru the girl.  Then maybe men will actually start approaching you.”

“But what should I do about Kenshin then?” Kaoru asked in despair, _but I am the assistant master and I can’t change that, and I am a girl, so what is Tae wanting me to do?_

Tae made several strangled sounds before closing her eyes for a few moments while she gathered her wits.  When she opened them, she faced Kaoru with a determined look.  “Okay, we need to start by being more approachable, let’s began with baby steps.  I want you to start flirting with Kenshin.”

“Flirting?” Kaoru gasped in shock.  _Oh come on Tae you now I’m no good at that, I usually scare the guy when I do._

“Don’t say it like that,” Tae told her sternly.  “Yes flirting, if you really like him then you should be able to manage that at least.” _And if Kenshin-san is not afraid of her temper then hopefully he won’t be scared off with Kaoru’s poor attempts to flirt,_ Tae thought to herself. 

“I can try, but I’m not really all that good at it,” Kaoru replied somberly.

“Just do your best dear, if it helps at all just think of it as a private conversation, try to make him laugh.  But mainly just try to talk to him whenever you can,” Tae sighed.  _Believe me I know firsthand how bad you are.  You never realize when you put your foot in your mouth and talk about things you shouldn’t._   “And don’t worry, your feelings for Kenshin are strictly between us girls, I swear I won’t tell, but I will insist on giving you advice so you have to keep me up to date.”  _Finally, an explanation for Kaoru’s behavior lately, she’s been all worried about getting Kenshin-san to like her.  At least this is a problem that I can help with.  And she finally likes someone enough to do something about it.  I thought this day would never come.  Go figure it would take a swordsmen to sweep her off her feet._

Kaoru smiled at her and gave her a big hug.  ‘Tae you really are the best of friends sometimes.”

“Yes I know dear,” Tae replied tiredly. 

Kaoru pulled away and screwed up her face as a sudden thought occurred to her, “you know Tae, why is it you’ve been trying for these past five years to marry me off so badly?”

“You don’t know?” Tae asked in shock before shaking her head, “well if you were so blind you couldn’t see Kenshin-san’s attraction to you guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”  Kaoru made a face at her as Tae went on to explain.  “Oh come on Kaoru, if it wasn’t for you then Sae would have been the one to marry Nobuyuki and I would have gone to Kyoto with the rest of my family after the flood.  Because of you I’m happy, except for my witch of a mother in law, but I plan on outliving her anyways.  The way I see it I owe you a debt of gratitude and it won’t be paid until I see you happily married off too.”

“Oh,” Kaoru responded.  She remembered the event well.  It had all happened several months after her father had returned home.  Tae’s family the Ochi’s, and Nobuyuki’s family the Sekihara’s, had always been close.  After Nobuyuki was born, followed several years later by Tae and her twin sister Sae, the families had decided that one of the daughters would marry Nobuyuki when they reached 16, the daughter to be decided by the Sekihara family.  Because Chiyoko had always hated Tae she pushed her husband into choosing Sae despite the feelings that had developed between Nobuyuki and Tae over the years and protests from the couple in question.  In the end, Sae had appealed to Kaoru as Tae had fallen into a deep depression over the affair.  Kaoru was eventually able to convince the family to reverse their decision and name Tae as the one to marry Nobuyuki.

“I still want to know how you managed to get them to change their mind,” Tae confessed to her.

Kaoru shook her head, “it would take far too long to explain.”  _And you’re probably better off not knowing._

“Anyways,” Tae said returning to the business at hand.  “First things first.  Your homework is to go back home, walk up to him, and flirt.  Then you report back to me and tell me the whole thing and we decided what to do from there, got it?”

“Yes ma’am,” Kaoru replied with a happy nod of her head.  “But if this goes wrong, I’m blaming you.”


	3. A Secret Revealed

**Chapter 2**

**A Secret Revealed**

Kaoru stepped out of her room, she had changed back into one of her plain kimonos, and she was now prepared to see to the housework that had been put off until after her tea with Tae.  She stepped out onto the back porch and watched Kenshin checking the laundry to see if it was ready to take down from the line yet.  She bit her lip as she remembered her conversation with Tae.  _Okay Kaoru, if Tae’s right about Kenshin then you should really do what she says, after all a little flirting never did any harm right?_   She told herself firmly, but still her feet wouldn’t move.  _It’s not a big deal like Tae said, it’s just a private conversation where you try to make him laugh, that’s not so hard is it?_   But still her feet wouldn’t move.

_Kaoru you stupid coward, just do it!_   She told herself firmly.  She lifted her head with determination and broadly stepped forward.  However, she was too preoccupied to step over the weak spot of the porch.  Just as she rested all her weight on her foot there was a sickening crack and Kaoru fell forward with a scream as a sharp pain radiated up from her left leg which had fallen through the cracked porch.

Kenshin turned in shock at her scream, “Kaoru-dono!” he yelled as he dashed forward.  Kaoru bit back the pain as she tried to gently pull her leg out of the cracked porch to no avail.  Kenshin rush up to her and assessed the extent of the damage with frantic eyes.  Her blood was streaming from several gashes caused by the splintered boards and staining the porch and her clothes.  “May I?” he asked gently, gesturing to her leg stuck in the porch.

Kaoru nodded her head, and Kenshin gently grabbed her leg and together they tried to raise it out of the hole in the porch.  Kaoru gasped in pain as the splintered boards cut deeper into her wounded leg when she tried to free it.  Kenshin let go and looked at her with worried eyes, “we need to get it out soon, you’re bleeding badly.”  Kenshin told her in a frantic tone.

“Hey what’s going on?” Yahiko demanded as he came running out of the house.  He looked at Kaoru’s leg trapped in the porch in surprise.

“Yahiko, go to the shed and get something so that we can get Kaoru-dono out of this,” Kenshin told him in a sharp tone.

Yahiko nodded and ran off while Kenshin turned back to Kaoru, “I will be back, I’m just getting the medicine chest.” He told her breathlessly.  Kaoru nodded back to him and Kenshin disappeared quickly.  He was back in a few moments, setting the chest down carefully before returning to her side.

Yahiko came out of the shed a few moments later with the ax.  Kenshin grabbed the tool away from the boy, “we will need some water,” he ordered as he started to use the blade to slowly pry the broken boards up, working as quickly as he could even while he was trying not to cause Kaoru any more pain.

Yahiko nodded again, ran to the well, and started pulling up a fresh bucket of water.  He then hauled the whole bucket over to them, slopping most of the water on himself in his haste.  As Kenshin was working on trying the free her, Kaoru was biting her lip to keep from screaming as the boards dug deeper into her leg.  Finally, Kenshin had managed to pull away enough of the boards that Kaoru was able to lift her leg up and out of the hole and raise her kimono so she could see the extent of her injuries.

_Well that isn’t good,_ Kaoru thought as she looked at the long and deep gash running up her leg that was seeping blood everywhere.  _I’m just glad that I decided to change before going to see Kenshin._

Next to her, Kenshin hissed in worry as he too saw the wound and Yahiko’s eyes opened in amazement.  “Should I go get the Doctor?” Yahiko asked in worry.

Kenshin kneeled next to her eyeing the wound closer as he was wetting a rag and starting to clean it as best as he could. 

“Yeah,” Kaoru responded.  “This is definitely going to need stitches.”  _Quite a few of them too._

Yahiko nodded and started running off.  “Yahiko wait,” Kenshin called and Yahiko skidded to a halt and looked back quickly. 

Kaoru looked at Kenshin in surprise.  _Why would he stop him?  This needs to be treated by Doctor Gensei at once._

Kenshin grabbed a handful of gaze and bandages once he had cleaned the wound and quickly bound the wound in a makeshift bandage, tying up the wound tightly to stop the bleeding.  Yahiko walked back with a confused look on his face.  “Don’t we need to get the Doctor?” he asked confused, _after all Kaoru said it needs stitches so why would he stop me?  He’s not going to stitch her up himself is he?_

“Treatment will be faster if we take Kaoru with us and this wound is bleeding too badly to wait,” Kenshin answered shortly.  He looked Kaoru in the eye.  “Do you think you can walk?”

Kaoru nodded, “I should be able to.”

Kenshin stood up and held out his hand to help her up.  Likewise, Yahiko came up to her other side and also held his hand out.  Kaoru grabbed both of their hands and got to her feet, keeping her weight on her right foot for the moment.  Kenshin held her arm securely and she held on to Yahiko’s shoulder as she tried an experimental step forward.  The moment she put the slightest amount of weight on her left leg a shearing pain shot though her and she collapsed forward with a screech.  Kenshin caught her quickly and before Kaoru could react, scoped down and picked her up, carrying her cradle like in his arms.

“Kenshin you don’t have to carry me,” Kaoru protested weakly, as Kenshin started walking forward determinedly, Yahiko following on his heels.

“We need to get you to Doctor Gensei quickly and this will be the fastest way,” Kenshin told her simply.

Kaoru bit her lip, _he has a point,_ she thought as Kenshin stepped quickly through the gates and started down the street.  As they went down the street she saw the expression on the people’s faces as they passed and her embarrassment grew.  _Guess we make a pretty interesting sight._ She thought as she eyed her blood-stained kimono.

“Hey I’ll run up ahead and tell Doctor Gensei what’s happen so he’s ready for you two when you get there,” Yahiko volunteered.  Kenshin nodded in reply and the boy took off running.

Kaoru leaned back and wrapped her arms around Kenshin’s neck to help support herself.  She figured that if Kenshin was going to insist on carrying her she might as well make the best of it while she could.  _Well to sum up my first attempt flirting with Kenshin, I got a deep gash in my leg that hurts like hell, a broken porch that needs to be fix, lost my pride and dignity, blood all over my clothes, but still I managed to end up in his arms.  Guess this could have been worse._ She smiled a bit as she imagined Tae’s expression when she explained her latest adventure.  She observed Kenshin’s face drawn with worry as he hurried down the street as fast as he could go.  _He looks so worried, say something Kaoru, I guess I should try flirting with him but what should I say?_ Kaoru thought frantically, remembering what Tae had said about trying to make Kenshin laugh, she cast around for a topic before inspiration struck her.

“At least I won’t scream at you this time Kenshin,” she told him softly.

Kenshin glanced at her in puzzlement before turning his eyes back to the road.  “What are you saying Kaoru-dono?”

“The first time we met, when you picked me up and rescued me from Gohia and I screamed at you and called you a pervert because you hadn’t put me down.  I promise I won’t do that this time.”  She assured him.

The corner of Kenshin’s mouth twitched at her comment.  “This one appreciates that.”

“But that’s just for this instance, I make no promises about next time,” Kaoru replied teasingly.

A faint smile crossed Kenshin’s lips and his face started to relax slightly, “In that case should we have Sano carry you when you can’t walk?”

Kaoru screwed up her face, “only if you have plenty of cloth to bind up your ears ‘cause I guarantee there will be great deal of yelling.”

The smile on Kenshin’s face widened, “this one wonders how he would react with you screaming ‘pervert’ at him?”

“Probably just drop me on the ground and tell me I’m on my own.”

Kenshin’s face finally relaxed.  “Maybe we shouldn’t consider him then, that we shouldn’t.”

I’d appreciate that,” Kaoru replied gratefully _this is much nicer than Sanosuke carrying me could ever be_.  By that point they had reach the clinic and Yahiko led them back to Doctor Gensei’s room where he saw his patients.  Kenshin set Kaoru down gently and Doctor Gensei immediately started cutting through Kenshin’s makeshift bandage.

“Kenshin, Yahiko please wait outside,” Doctor Gensei ordered them abruptly.  Kaoru watched in disappointment as Yahiko grabbed Kenshin’s arm and dragged him out of the room.  _Damn, and I was just starting to get the hang of this whole flirting thing too._

_***_

Megumi walked out from the kitchen carrying a tray with a steaming pot of tea and several mugs for everyone.  She sat it down in the front room which served as Doctor Gensei’s waiting room before kneeling and starting to pour the mugs.  When Yahiko had showed up at the clinic saying that Kaoru had been hurt and was going to need stitches, Doctor Gensei had left her to finish dressing the wound on a patient while he laid out the things in a separate room to treat Kaoru when she arrived.  After Megumi had finished she decided to make some tea and serve it to Yahiko and Kenshin while they were waiting for Doctor Gensei to finish treating Kaoru.

Megumi looked up as she handed a mug of tea to Yahiko and the girls, Ayame and Suzume, who were absorbed in some kind of three-way tic tac toe.  They barely even acknowledged her, too intent on their game.  Finally, she moved over next to Kenshin and poured the last two mugs, she kept one for herself while handing the second to Kenshin.

“Ken-san, some tea?” she offered.

Kenshin looked at her, taking his eyes off of the door to the room where Kaoru and Doctor Gensei were for the first time since Megumi had entered with the tea.

“Thank you Megumi-dono,” Kenshin replied taking the mug from her.  He sat it down on the floor next to him untouched and his eyes went immediately back to the door.

Megumi tried not to be insulted at Kenshin’s subtle refusal of her hospitality.  She sipped her tea while she stared at him.  He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, bouncing his knees up and down rapidly in his nervousness, his eyes fixed with single-mindedness on the door.

“Do you think these rain showers will continue much longer?  I hear the farmers are starting to have problems with rot because of it,” Megumi started, trying to engage Kenshin in a conversation.  She had noticed in her time of living at the dojo that Kenshin seemed to take an interest in agriculture much to her surprise for one of the samurai class. 

“Maybe,” Kenshin replied distracted, still not taking his eyes off the door.

Megumi pursed his lips, _without fail, whenever Kaoru’s around Kenshin won’t notice anyone else, no matter what they say or do._   Megumi bit down on her wounded pride.  When she had been staying at the dojo during the time that she had been trying to escape from Kanryu, her initial feelings for Kenshin were simply as someone she could use to protect her for the time being.  Gradually she became friends with him and the others.  After Kenshin had fought his way through Kanryu’s guards and the infamous Oniwanbanshu to rescue her when Kanryu had blackmailed her into returning to him, her feelings for Kenshin had deepened, even though she knew those feelings would never be returned.  _How could they be when he’s so obviously in love with Kaoru,_ Megumi though bitterly, jealous of her friend.  _And the worst part is that she doesn’t even realize it and so she doesn’t treat him as well as she should._

“There’s no need to be so nervous Ken-san, I’m sure Kaoru will be just fine,” Megumi assured him.

“I’m not nervous,” Kenshin replied quickly, glancing at her.

Megumi looked pointedly at his knees still bouncing up and down.  Kenshin followed her gaze and then blushing he shifted his position, now no longer bouncing his knees.

“Everything will be fine Ken-san.” Megumi assured him again.

Kenshin smiled nervously back at her.  At that moment, the door to the examination room where Kaoru and Doctor Gensei were, slid back and Kenshin looked up quickly.  If he had been a dog then his ears would have been perked up in anticipation.

“Well the good news is she’ll live,” the Doctor announced with a slight laugh as he walked into the room and joined the others.

Kenshin breathed a sigh of relief as a happy smile crossed his face. 

“Of course I’ll live, you know I’m too stubborn to die,” Kaoru replied as she came out of the room limping expertly on crutches.

“Now remember Kaoru, you going to have to stay on those crutches for a while, that wound won’t heal as quickly if you’re putting too much stress on it, and you need to avoid getting those stitches wet,” the Doctor warned her. 

Kaoru leaned on her crutches, “and change the dressings, keep it clean, yeah, yeah I know the drill,” she responded with a sigh.  Then she looked at the others, her eyes fell on Kenshin smiling happily and looking quite content with Megumi sitting far too close to him for Kaoru’s liking.  She felt her anger rising at the sight, _that vixen!_   Kaoru thought to herself.  _How could I forget that while I was with Doctor Gensei she had Kenshin all to herself?_

“Well I guess we can go home now,” Yahiko spoke up.

“Yeah, let’s get home,” Kaoru answered, “thanks Doctor Gensei, we’d love to stay but there’s lots to do at home.” _Besides there’s no way I’m going to let Megumi spend any time with Kenshin while I might stand a chance of getting him!_

“Do you need any help?” Kenshin asked as he scrambled to his feet and then to Kaoru’s side as she started making her way to the door with long loping strides with her crutches.

Kaoru shook her head as she continued on, trying to put as much distance as she could between Megumi and herself, Yahiko joining them as they made their way outside.  “Not in the least, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to get around on crutches.”  Kaoru told him.  “I broke my foot one winter when I was a kid,” Kaoru explained at the puzzled expression on Kenshin’s face.  “I was on a pair of crutches for months, I’m actually pretty good on them, so don’t worry okay?”

Kenshin smiled tiredly at her, “if that’s what you want Kaoru-dono,” he assured her.  Even as he made a mental note to keep an eye on her to make sure that she didn’t injury herself further.

“How did you break your foot?” Yahiko asked as he walked next to Kenshin.

“My old friend Jiro, he’s the one in Fukushima now, asked us to help out while he was having to move some barrels of rice for his father.  Well the guys started horsing around and Jiro shoved Hideki, he was the one who fought in the Boshin Wars, into one of the barrels of rice and it fell over and landed on my foot and broke it.”

“Ouch,” Yahiko replied in sympathy.

Kaoru nodded, “I thought so too at the time.”

“Were you angry at him?” Kenshin asked.

Kaoru shook her head, “not really, considering I was kind of the one who started the whole thing, besides it was an accident.”

They made their way back to the dojo, and as soon as they arrived the postman came through the gates and delivered a letter to Kaoru.

“Another one from Yasu?” Yahiko asked excitedly as he saw Kaoru inspecting the writing on the letter.  Kaoru had been letting Yahiko read Yasu’s letters, partly to help him in his reading abilities, partly because she thought he would enjoy them, and Yahiko was eager after reading some of Yasu’s adventures to meet the guy for himself and hear some of his crazy stories in person.

Kenshin’s jaw tighten slightly at the mention of Yasu but Kaoru and Yahiko were too preoccupied to notice.

Kaoru furred her brow as she flipped the letter in her hand, “no this isn’t from Yasu, this letter came from Izu.”

“Who would write you from Izu?” Yahiko asked incredulously.  _Izu, where the hell is that?_

Kaoru looked at him with wide eyes and shrugged her shoulders, “I dunno.”  With that she ripped the letter open and started reading through it.  “Oh, this is from Master Mochizuki,” Kaoru exclaimed happily.

“Who?” Yahiko asked, glancing at Kenshin who looked just as confused as he was.

“Master Mochizuki, he runs a dojo in Izu, I met him years ago.  Anyways he was just writing because he wants to know if I’ll be able to come out to Izu in a couple of weeks and act as an interim master while he’s away for some family business for a month.”  Kaoru explained to them.

Kenshin furrowed up his brow, “Izu is a long ways away, and he wants you to come out and act as his relief?  Surely there was someone closer he could have called on.”

“Probably,” Kaoru replied with a shrug, “but hey it’s work and the only student I have here is pretty mobile so I’m not going to turn down the offer.”  _Especially since I’m going to have to get the porch fixed as well as that roof since we haven’t been able to do it ourselves, and that’s going to cost more money then I’m comfortable spending.  Besides taxes are coming up and I don’t have nearly enough to cover them yet.  Working as an interim master for a month ought be enough to cover what I owe in taxes and make up for the set back of all the repairs this place needs._   Kaoru thought as she did the mental math.

“You want us to go to Izu?” Yahiko asked in wonder, he hadn’t the vaguest idea where Izu even was, having never gone further than a mile or so from Tokyo in his whole life.

“Unless you want to stay here and mop floors, your choice,” Kaoru offered with a grin.

“No way!” Yahiko replied excitedly.  “You ain’t leaving me behind you old tanuki.”  Kaoru flicked one of her crutches at Yahiko and he danced out of the way.

“Do you think that your leg will be healed by then Kaoru-dono?  Izu is a long ways away you know.”  Kenshin remained her gently.

Kaoru shook her head, “even if I’m still on crutches I’ll make it.  Hey the six months I was hobbling around with a broken foot I still never missed a day of training, I might not have been at my best but I was still there.”  Kaoru assured him.  _One of the few times that the guys actually stood a chance when sparing with me._ “Besides this is just giving lessons.”

“Oh, well if you’re sure then,” Kenshin said softly.  But his words were drowned out as Yahiko started asking Kaoru question after question about Izu.  Kaoru answered his questions about its location, and telling him all about the famous hot springs there while the boy’s eyes lit up in wonder.  Kenshin felt a pang of worry, _if Kaoru-dono goes to Izu for a month then where will I go?_   He walked away, feeling the need to be alone for a while, and sat on the porch puzzling over his dilemma.  _Is it wrong for me to want to go with them?  After all, technically I’m only a border here.  Come to think of it, will Kaoru-dono even want me to stay here while she’s gone or will she tell me that I have to find somewhere else for the month?_

“Hey Kenshin, is something wrong?” Kaoru asked she sat down on the porch several minutes later, propping her crutches down next to her and staring at Kenshin’s somber expression.  Yahiko by this point had gone into the house leaving the two of them alone.

“Nothing’s wrong Kaoru-dono,” Kenshin assured her quickly, putting on a bright smile that he in no way felt.  _Is it wrong of me to want to be near her when I know she loves another?_

Kaoru gave him a critical look.  _He’s upset and trying to hide as always. I wonder why?_   Kaoru pursed her lips and decided to try a guess.  “Are you upset about us going to Izu?” she asked.

Kenshin’s eyes widen, “why should I be?  This is good for you that it is.  And it will also help broaden Yahiko’s horizons, traveling I mean.”  Kenshin assured her quickly.

“Oh, well I was just about to ask if you wanted to come with us, if you’re not around I’ll probably end up throwing Yahiko off one of those cliffs there.”  Kaoru offered with a shrug.

Kenshin’s expression brightened, “really, you would let this one come with you?”  _She really wants me to travel so far with her?_

“Of course,” Kaoru assured him.  “I wouldn’t think about leaving you here on your own.”  _So he was upset about us going, did he really think I would just leave him on his own for so long?_

Kenshin smiled happily at her, “this one would love to come with you, that I would.”

“It’s settled then,” Kaoru responded slapping her knee with one hand.  She got to her feet, retrieved her crutches, and started hobbling into the house with Kenshin following her.  “First, things first I’ve got to write Master Mochizuki back and accept the offer.”

“Where will we stay in Izu?” Kenshin asked, his mind immediately thinking about the logistic of the journey.  _If it was just me I wouldn’t even consider a thing like that.  I would just sleep under a bridge or tree or something.  But I certainly won’t allow Kaoru-dono and Yahiko to do something like that.  Where ever we stay has to be somewhere respectable._   Kenshin thought determinedly.

“Oh that shouldn’t be a problem.  Doctor Gensei’s littler sister lives in Izu, when I went to Izu with Hanako we stayed with her.  Doctor Gensei keeps telling me that she would love for me to come back out and see her again.  I’m sure that if I asked she would let us stay with her.”  Kaoru told him.

Kenshin opened his eyes in surprise, “you have been to Izu then Kaoru-dono?”  _Every time I turn around I learn something new about her._

Kaoru nodded as she started digging for paper and ink to write her letters.  She sat down on the floor and grabbed a pen.  “It was the last spring of the revolution, Hanako and I got permission to travel to Izu because Itsuki, that was Ayame and Suzume’s father, he had volunteered to serve as the doctor for area after all the doctors there left to serve on either side of the war.  We ended up staying there all spring and a little into the summer before coming back to Tokyo, that’s when I met Master Mochizuki.  He even let me train at his dojo for free while I was there.”

“Oh, I see,” Kenshin replied.  He sat down and waited for Kaoru to finish writing her letters, one to Master Moshizuki and the other to Doctor Gensei’s sister before continuing the conversation.  “So how did you manage to get permission to travel so far then?”  Kenshin asked.  “I don’t really remember it being that easy to obtain permission to leave one’s prefecture.”

Kaoru made a face as she turned towards Kenshin.  “Well… it wasn’t really Hanako’s idea to go, or Doctor Gensei’s idea either.  You see Hanako and Itsuki had only been married about a month or so before he left and I figured it would be nice for them to spend some time together, especially because we didn’t know when he would be able to return home.  So me and the guys kind of came up with this whole scheme to convince them to give me and Hanako permission to leave.”

Kenshin’s eyebrows raised in disapproval and Kaoru hastened on to explain. 

“Well,” Kaoru continued.  “It kind of came down to my friend Makoto claiming that he was me and that I was Hanako and that he was an assistant to Doctor Gensei and I was his slave and that he wanted permission for us to go to Izu in order to collect medicinal herbs.”

Kenshin raised his eyebrows, “you lied, that was very dangerous to do.”

“I didn’t lie,” Kaoru assured him quickly, “in fact I didn’t say a word, I just sat there and let Makoto do all the talking, to tell the truth I didn’t even know what he was planning at the time.  And it wasn’t entirely a lie because I did collect the medicinal herbs that Doctor Gensei told me to.  Though I still gave Makoto a thorough dressing down for what he did though, but what as I suppose to do?  Point out his deception right there in front of the Lord and get us both sent to the whipping post or worse?” 

Kenshin just kept looking at her in disbelief. 

“Well anyways,” Kaoru said quickly as she folded the letters and addressed them.  “If you go get Yahiko, I’ll grab some money and we can go into town and mail these and then see about getting that porch fixed.”  Kaoru said quickly, hoping to change the subject.

“Okay,” Kenshin said slowly as he walked out the door.  _I can’t believe that she would do something that stupid,_ Kenshin thought to himself as he started searching for Yahiko.  _It wouldn’t matter her age if she had been caught in a lie like that.  She and her friend would have been punished severely, no wonder Doctor Gensei and Tae try to keep her on such a short leash._   Somewhere in the cold logic side of his brain, he rationalized Kaoru’s actions by remembering that at the same age he was risking his life in the war in Kyoto.  Also that her intention had never been to lie and that was instead something that her friend had done while she had merely kept her mouth shut to keep him from being punished, but Kenshin stubbornly refused to listen to that voice.

“You guys ready?” Kaoru asked as she limped out, her letters tucked into her sleeves several minutes later. 

Kenshin looked back at her, having searched the entire complex for Yahiko.  “I’m sorry Kaoru-dono but I think Yahiko has disappeared again.”  Kenshin told her solemnly.

Kaoru’s face harden at the news, “oh did he?” she said in a tone as cold as ice.  “That’s it, I’m going to keep a close eye on that boy until I figure out where he’s been sneaking off to.”

“You really think that’s a good idea?” Kenshin asked as he stepped up next to her as Kaoru started limping her way towards the gate.

“You telling me that you’re not curious as to where he’s been going?” Kaoru asked him.  “What if he’s getting into some kind of trouble?”

“Okay, you have a point,” Kenshin agreed.  “Maybe we should keep an eye on him, after all if it’s something questionable then we should put a stop to it as soon as possible.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Kaoru agreed.

***

Two days later the sun dawned bright and clear.  It was early afternoon when Yahiko carefully glanced around to make sure there was no one else in the area.  _Good, nobody’s around._ He took a deep breath, sneaked out the side gate, and started running down the street.  _I’ve got to be careful,_ Yahiko thought to himself.  _Kenshin’s on to me._

Unbeknownst to Yahiko.  Kenshin, Kaoru, and Sanosuke had been sitting in one of the trees overlooking the side gate and saw him leave.

“Yep, looks like we were right,” Kaoru commented as Yahiko took off down the street.

“He is hiding something,” Kenshin agreed.  _He wouldn’t run like that unless he already had some destination in mind, and judging from his precautions he doesn’t want us to know or follow him.  Very suspicious._

“It gives us something to do anyways,” Sanosuke agreed as he slipped out of the tree followed by Kenshin who caught Kaoru as she slipped down behind him.  Kenshin found himself wondering how Kaoru had gotten up there in the first place.  When Kenshin and Sanosuke had decided to hide out near the side gate, as that was the most likely place for Yahiko to leave by, they agreed that climbing a tree and waiting for Yahiko to leave would be the best way to observe him.  It had shocked both of them to find that Kaoru had beaten them to it.

Once Kaoru had grabbed her crutches which she had hidden behind the tree, the three of them moved quickly to follow Yahiko as he started to make his way into town.

“Betcha anything it’s a girl,” Sanosuke whispered to them.

“Forget it.  Food,” Kaoru retorted as she lopped along on her crutches.

_Why won’t anyone consider swords?_ Kenshin thought to himself.  They followed Yahiko through the center of town until finally they watched him disappear into a building.  They hurried ahead to see that Yahiko had disappeared into the Akabeko.

“Hey this is where I always eat,” Sanosuke commented looking at the entrance, _easy to skip out of.  Well sort of, that Tae is getting better at making me pay up._

“See I knew it was food!” Kaoru exclaimed excitedly, turning on Sanosuke with a smug expression.

“Oro?” Kenshin gasped in shock.

“Peh,” Sanosuke retorted with a disgusted expression.

“If he thinks he can get away with this…” Kaoru started angrily as she limped through the front door, “then he…” she stopped as she glanced around the restaurant and didn’t spot him.  “That’s funny,” Kaoru muttered in surprise as the she surveyed the groups of people at the tables eating and talking.  “We saw him come in here but where’d he go?”

“Kaoru!” Tae exclaimed as she stepped forward to greet them.  Her face turned into shock when she saw Kaoru leaning on crutches.  “Kaoru what happened?” she asked in worry.

Kaoru smiled at her, “I had a little fight with the porch and it won.”  Tae gave her a puzzled glanced and Kaoru went on to explain.  “The wood was rotten and I stepped on it wrong and it collapsed on me but I’m fine, really.”

“Oh, that sounds terrible,” Tae responded, “but if you give us just a second we can finish cleaning that table in the back and you three can have a nice lunch.”

“That’s not why we’re here Tae,” Kaoru injected quickly before Tae could leave.  Tae looked at her in puzzlement.  “Yahiko’s been sneaking off lately so we followed him and we saw him come in here.  Do you know where he went?”

“Yahiko, are you sure he came in here?” Tae asked, her eyes a little too wide.

Kaoru’s eyes narrowed.  “Yes Tae, he came in here and I know that you see every face that walks through those doors so don’t pretend that you don’t know what I’m talking about.  So unless you want me telling Chiyoko-san about that afternoon when we all went down to the bay you had better start talking.”

Tae’s eyes opened in shock, “that’s blackmail,” she hissed at her.

Sanosuke turned and gave Kenshin a questioning look and Kenshin shrugged, just as confused as Sanosuke was about what the women were referring to.

“Yep, now where’s Yahiko?” Kaoru asked pleasantly.

Tae gave her a frustrated look before jerking her head to the kitchen.  “He went that way, follow me, we’ll go around.”

They followed Tae as she led them out the front doors and around the building until they were approaching the Akabeko from the alleyway behind it.  They peeked around the gate into the backyard of the Akabeko to see Yahiko sitting on a crate in the back.

“Hey kid!” The solid face of Tae’s husband, Nobuyuki, appeared out the backdoor.  “We’re running low on charcoal.  Bring us another sack.”

“Yes sir!” Yahiko responded promptly, jumping to his feet and running to the bags of charcoal and grabbing a sack.

“Tsubame, you go get one too.” They heard Nobuyuki say to someone in the kitchen. “And it’s starting to fill up inside so after your done there go inside and help out!”

“Y-yes sir.” A trembling female voice answered.  A young girl then went running out the back door and joined Yahiko at the bags of charcoal.

“I see, so he runs errands in the back,” Sanosuke muttered.  _There are easier ways of making money than this._

“Yes, he asked me not to tell.” Tae told them softly.  “He just showed up one day asking for a job on the quiet, he seem so earnest that we decided to let him have one.  Just a few hours every other day or so.”

“But why is he doing this?” Kaoru asked, thoroughly confused.  _They probably work him pretty hard back here.  He’s got to have a good reason for keeping this up._

“Maybe that’s your answer,” Sanosuke told her as Yahiko gave Tsubame the bag he had grabbed which she carried in her arms while Yahiko flung another bag over his shoulder and they turned and made their way back to the kitchen.

“That?” Kaoru replied in surprise.  _That kid never helps me out as much as he just helped her,_ she thought with a little resentment.

“Oh Tsubame?” Tae replied, noticing what they were talking about.  “I don’t think so.  She came to us after Yahiko did.” She informed them.

They watched as Tsubame tripped on the rough ground and fell forward, dropping her heavy load.  Yahiko turned back to her.

“What are you doing?  Hurry up!”  Yahiko told her firmly.

“I-I’m sorry Yahiko-chan,” Tsubame cried, her chin trembling as she tried to keep back her tears.

“I told you not to call me chan!” Yahiko yelled at her in frustration.

“Sorry, sorry,” Tsubame answered, lowering her head to the ground, the tears now running down her cheeks.  She got to her feet and tried to pick up the bag to no avail.  Yahiko watched her for a moment before sighing and walking back to her.

“And don’t get so scared all the time, I hate it when people act that way,” he told her firmly as he scooped her bag off the ground with one hand and rested it under his arm, wobbling slightly under the weight.

“Yahiko-cha-, no Yahiko-kun,” Tsubame said softly as she watched him slowly walk towards the kitchen under his burden, trying hard not to fall over.

“Consider this my way of saying thanks for tying up my sandal the other day,” he called to her as he kept walking, wobbling slightly with each slow step.  “Besides, working the legs and waist is part of a swordsman’s training, don’t mind me just go back and help.”

After Yahiko disappeared into the kitchen, Kenshin and the others turned and stared at each other in disbelief.  “Well that was slightly unexpected,” Sanosuke muttered.  _Didn’t think the kid could carry that much._

“I’d say,” Kaoru retorted angrily, “he’s shows more respect to that girl out there than he ever has to me and I feed him, put a roof over his head, clothes on his back, train him, teach him how to read and write, and even gave him his own room!  And all I get is a foal mouth brat who does everything he can to get out of work.”

“You’re too old for him,” Sanosuke retorted.

Kaoru glared angrily at him.

“Maybe we could discuss this somewhere else?” Kenshin suggested mildly, trying to head off the impending fight.

“Yes, why don’t you come inside and have a cup of tea?” Tae offered.

“Great idea, maybe we can figure out what that brat is really up to here,” Kaoru muttered to herself as Tae led them into the Akabeko.  Once they had tea in hand and were comfortably seated at a table in the Akabeko they continued their conversation about Yahiko’s strange behavior in keeping his job at the Akabeko a secret from them.

“Food, girls, _and_ swords, we were all right,” Sanosuke committed in surprise.

“But none of that seems to be what he’s after…” Kenshin added in puzzlement.  _There seems to be more to Yahiko’s motivations then what we just saw._

“Could he just be looking for some spending money?” Tae suggested. 

“Then why would he have to keep it a secret?” Kaoru snapped.  “I don’t have a problem with the kid working.  At least he’s showing a hint of responsibility for a change.”

“Maybe he’s trying to supplement the dojo’s budget?” Tae commented.

“Yeah right, kid’s not that generous,” Sanosuke scoffed.

“Look who’s talking!” Kaoru cried, staring with distain at Sanosuke.  “Moocher,” she muttered under her breath as she took another sip of tea.  Sanosuke gave her a look and Kenshin bit back a laugh as he drank his tea.  Tae raised her hand to her mouth to hide her own chuckle at Kaoru’s comment.

“Oh Kaoru,” Tae said with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.  “That project I gave to you, how’s it going so far?”  Kenshin could swear that Tae glanced briefly at him before staring firmly at Kaoru.

Kaoru slowly lowered her mug and gave Tae a warning expression that Kenshin in no way understood.  “Okay I guess.  I’ll have to tell you about it later all right?”

“Oh so you started it then?  That was awfully quick, for you at least.  I was expecting it would take you at least a week or so to get around to it,” Tae replied with a secretive smile.

Kaoru’s lips pursed together and she seemed rather uncomfortable but Kenshin still didn’t understand why.  “Barely started Tae.  It’s too complicated to get into right now though.”

Kenshin glanced between the women in puzzlement, _‘project’?  Is Tae-san having Kaoru-dono make her something for her baby then?_

“Well maybe I can come by the dojo sometime and we can catch up then,” Tae offered with a wide grin.  Kaoru just nodded her head in response, seemingly relived that Tae was going to drop the matter for the moment.

_Okay, I’m lost, what the hell are the girls up to now?_   Sanosuke thought with suspicion as he glanced between the two women.  _I just hope whatever this ‘project’ is that I’m not involved in anyway._

“Hey!  We want some service here!” A man yelled at the next table behind where Kenshin was sitting.

Instantly, Tae straightened up, about to set her own cup of tea on the floor to deal with the customers but she stopped when Tsubame came running out of the kitchen.

“C-coming sir,” she called timidly as she ran up to the table.  “So sorry for the wait, what would you…” Tsubame suddenly trailed off and Kenshin wondered why she suddenly gasped with shock behind him.  He leaned back a little further back to hear the conversation.  Meanwhile Kaoru, Sanosuke, and Tae continued their conversation into trying to understand Yahiko’s intentions in working at the Akabeko.  Kenshin drowned out their voices and strained to pick up the words of the men behind him over the sounds of the crowded restaurant.

“Hey,” a man answered Tsubame.  A low suppressed laugher came from the other men at the table.

“Ah…” Tsubame answered, her voice trembling with fear.

“What’s with the mopey face?  You give that look to your master?” the man demanded.

Kenshin felt a shock wave pass through him at the mention of master.  He clenched his teeth, whatever that man was doing here he sensed that it meant no good for Tsubame.

“No sir,” Tsubame answered, seemingly close to tears.

“You know why we’re here.  Meet us out back in the alley in five minutes.”  The man ordered.

“Yes sir,” Tsubame answered on the faintest of whispers.  With that the five men got to their feet, one of them, the one who seemed to be the leader, led the others out of the restaurant while Tsubame disappeared back into the kitchen.

Kenshin grabbed his sword, prepared to follow them.  It was the sound of a breaking mug that drew his attention back to the others, he looked at Kaoru in shock to see she was the one who had dropped her mug and it had cracked into several pieces.  Her face had gone completely white in shock. 

“Kaoru, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Tae said worriedly as she leaned forward and grabbed Kaoru’s wrist.

“That man,” Kaoru whispered.  She swallowed hard, “that was the bastard who tried to kill me,” Kaoru finished, her voice trembling in rage.

“Kaoru, language!” Tae snapped at her.

Kaoru screwed up her face in an apologue, “Sorry Tae.”

“Oro?” Kenshin asked confused.  _How come when I try to tell Kaoru-dono to watch her tongue she just yells at me?_

Kaoru blinked twice before she looked at the others.  Her face twisted into a mask of rage.  “He was one of the men who came to the house to make my father go off and fight in the war, but he was the one who held the sword to my throat, I could never forget that face!” She declared fervently.

_Just like I thought, the man is up to no good and now he looks to use Tsubame for something,_ Kenshin thought in surprised rage.  _And if he was the one who threatened Kaoru-dono when she was just a child then beating him into a bloody pulp will be a pleasure._

Kenshin leaped to his feet, slipping his sword on.  “Kenshin where are you going?” Sanosuke asked as he stood up next to him.  _He doesn’t seriously want to beat that guy up because he threatened Kaoru almost a decade ago does he?  If so then he really has it bad for her._

“I heard what they said, it seems that that man wishes to use Tsubame for something, he’s having her meet him in the alley.”  Kenshin told him softly.

“He what?” Tae demanded as she got to her feet.  Behind her, Kaoru was making her way to the edge of the table area to join the others.  “Tsubame is the sweetest girl we’ve got here and I’m not letting a man like that use her for anything,” she declared.

“Stay here Tae-dono, we will deal with this, that we will,” Kenshin promised her.

“Yeah Tae, Kenshin and us can handle this, besides I owe this ass an old score,” Kaoru said in a low tone, her eyes flashing.

“Kaoru Kamiya if you will not watch your tongue then I’m washing your mouth out with soup.” Tae told her firmly, glaring at Kaoru with a look that clearly told she would follow through with her threat.

Kaoru cowered from her, “Sorry, sorry.”

_It’s just not fair,_ Kenshin thought sadly before he shook his head and made his way back towards the kitchen figuring the fastest way to the alley would be through the kitchen.


	4. A Day to Train

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a few notes on this chapter, first there will be some mention of samurai debts no longer being allowed by the government. The stipends that samurai would receive was officially abolished in 1873, this was also the same year that the formal feudal lords were abolished as well. So in the case of our samurai in this chapter who are trying to use robbery for money they are having to turn to this because they are no longer receiving the wages that they have depended on for generations. 
> 
> Another important note, this particular chapter has a special cameo appearance of the most arrogant, sadistic, egotistical, narcissistic, saki addicted character in the entire Kenshin story. For those familiar with the Rurouni Kenshin story you probably know who I'm referring too. That's right, he appears in this one chapter only in a flashback that was inspired by one line from the manga in that scene that I decided to have a little bit of fun with it.

**Chapter 3**

**A Day to Train**

“Phew, I’m beat!  This is harder than Kaoru’s training.” Yahiko moaned as he collapsed against a crate in the back area of the Akabeko.  _Never thought I’d be saying that._ “But to get my hands on it… I can deal with anything.  I just wonder how much it will cost?”  Yahiko thought in puzzlement.  He looked up in surprise when Tsubame ran past him without even noticing his presence.  He spotted her tear streaked face in an instant.  _What the hell happened?_   Yahiko thought straightening up in an instant.  He got to his feet and followed behind her, grabbing his shinai almost by instinct.  He had taken recently to always carrying the thing around with him by strapping it to his back ever since Kenshin had told them that when he had been training, his Master had made him carry his sword with him everywhere, even sleeping with it within reach. 

_Did some guy inside say something to upset her?_   He wondered.  _If someone did that…_ Yahiko clenched his fists as he saw Tsubame skid to a halt in the alley and Yahiko ducked around a corner to prevent her from spotting him.  He peeked around and saw her looking around as though expecting someone to join her. 

Yahiko narrowed his eyes, _got to get closer, but if I do that she’ll see me_ , and idea hit him and he looked up.  _Why not?_

_***_

Kenshin and the others raced down the alleyway, they spotted Tsubame ahead and instantly ducked into another alleyway.  They carefully peeked around the corner as the men from earlier came strolling up to Tsubame who lowered her head upon their approach.  Kenshin held out his arm to keep Kaoru from stepping forward when she saw the leader’s face.

“Looks’ like you’ve done pretty well for yourself Tsubame,” the leader told her with a laugh.  Kenshin studied his face.  It was twisted and cruel with long sideburns.  His hair was trimmed short and he carried himself with cold arrogance, a cane balanced across his shoulders.  The other men with him also had bokkens with them, the best that the former samurai could carry with the anti-sword ban starting to go into effect.  “It seems’ as though you’ve got all the guys at the restaurant trusting you, am I right?”

Tsubame lowered her head even lower in response while the men around her just laughed.

_Whatever it is that they want of her it is clear that she is not doing this willing,_ Kenshin thought, feeling another serge of anger that these former samurai would use an innocent girl so.

“So how much was there?” the leader demanded, his face grew angry when Tsubame refused to speak.  “I said how much was there?” he demanded louder.

Tsubame flinched visibly at his tone, “not much,” she sobbed, “they take the day’s earnings back to their home every day.  They just keep petty cash in the Akabeko.”

“Hump, just as I thought,” the leader snorted, he held his hand out.  “Well what are you waiting for?  Hand it over.”

Tears fell from Tsubame’s face but she remained immobile while the leader grew impatience at the wait. 

“You made an imprint of the key for the owner’s house like I told you to, right?” he demanded.  Tsubame nodded in response, a sob escaping her and she raised her hands to her face and cried. 

None of the men seem to care in the slightest at her pain.  Kenshin on the other hand felt himself about to explode with rage, _so this is what they want from her, for her to help them in robbing from the Sekihara family_?  He could tell by the growling behind him that Sanosuke was just waiting for the perfect moment to spring out and pound those men in the ground.  And he didn’t even need to turn around to know that his hand on her arm was the only thing keeping Kaoru there despite her injuries.

“Well hand it over,” the leader demanded.

Tsubame raised her head and proclaimed in a loud voice, her face bathed in tears, “you mustn’t!  You were the Shogun’s vessel.  If you become a thief you would be slinging mud on his good name Lord Mikio as well as on your own family the Nagaoka’s.”

“And since when did you matter enough to give your opinion you bitch?” Lord Mikio demanded as he backhanded Tsubame and she hit the ground crying, her head bowed once again. 

“You are of a samurai family, a poor family that served the Nagaoka for 300 years!” The man told her coldly as he walked over to her and Tsubame cringed back from him.  “Your father had to obey every commend I gave him.  Are you trying to tell that just because the emperor says there are no samurai debts left that your family suddenly owes mine nothing?” he demanded.

“Yes but stealing…” Tsubame began quietly.

Lord Mikio grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head back while Tsubame yelped with pain.  “Oh all right,” he told her softly, his tone cruel and hard while Tsubame stared at him in fear.  “I can’t get blood out of a gutless turnip.  We’ll have to do this another way.  If we can’t get the key, we’ll have to do it the hard way, there’s no other choice.  If there are any witness the great name of Nagaoka will be stained.  Everyone, including that woman Tae will have to be killed.” He concluded softly.

Tsubame shuddered at the implications of his words, Lord Mikio let go of her and stood up and Tsubame with a bowed head slowly reached into her kimono.

“Heh that’s a good girl, don’t worry we won’t get caught,” he assured her.

“Knock it off!” A familiar voice yelled.  Kenshin felt his eyes widen and he searched for where the voice had come from.  _What is Yahiko doing here?_ He wondered.  _And where is he?_ Tsubame’s head popped up and she glanced around also for the source of the voice.  The other men with Lord Mikio glanced up and down the alleyway to find the source of the disturbance.

“Who’s there?”

“Where’s the guy that said that?”

“Show yourself!” Lord Mikio demanded with a snarl.

“You guys must be stupid,” everyone glanced up to the rooftop of one of the buildings along the alley to find Yahiko standing on the roof and glaring down on them all in distain, his fists clenched at his side.

“It’s been the Meiji era for 5 years now,” Yahiko declared fervently.  “There are no samurai debts anymore!  You Side-burns,” Yahiko yelled definitely, pointing a finger at Lord Mikio.  “As a samurai myself I can’t allow you to do this.”

“That’s my first apprentice!” Kaoru whispered proudly. 

“Who is this punk?” one of the men asked in disgust.

“Yahiko-chan please stay out of this!” Tsubame begged.

“I told you not to call me chan!” Yahiko screamed in anger at her. 

She flinched back at his tone.  The men crouched, gripping their weapons for a fight.

“TOH!” Yahiko yelled as he leaped off the roof and hit the ground, bringing his shinai up in defense.

_Toh?_   Kenshin thought in bewilderment, _what the hell is that supposed to mean?_

Yahiko hit the ground and his eyes opened wide as the shock wave coursed through his body and he tried to stay on his feet despite the spasms of pain radiating from his feet up.  _I didn’t think that all the way through…_

Behind Kenshin, Kaoru groaned and he heard a slap as she face palmed after Yahiko’s leap.  “That’s my first apprentice,” she moaned with considerately less enthusiasm than before.

“Yahiko-chan,” Tsubame called out.

“Not CHAN, anything but CHAN!” Yahiko screamed, his flash of anger overcoming the pain in his feet and legs and he stood up straight. 

“I’m so sorry,” Tsubame cried, covering her face with her hands.

“You’d better drop this stupid burglary idea,” Yahiko yelled, raising his shinai and pointing it at the men before him.  “Or otherwise I, Yahiko Myojin will beat the crap out of you,” he declared.

“Still your first apprentice?” Sanosuke whispered to Kaoru.

“Please don’t remind me,” Kaoru begged.

Lord Miko scoffed at the sight.  “Take care of him guys,” he ordered.  At his commend the closest man to Yahiko sprang forward and brought his sword up high, close to one ear before swinging it down towards Yahiko.  Yahiko caught the bokken with his shinai and Kenshin saw the man’s eyes widen in surprise.  Yahiko then quickly ducked under the bokken with a twist, swung his shinai, and caught the man in the chest with a loud crack.  Yahiko continued his forward motion past the man, turning to deliver a cut across the head that knocked the man to the ground before spinning to face the other men who paused in their attack in complete astonishment that Yahiko had taken down the first man so quickly.

_Wow I did it!_   Yahiko thought in slight surprise, _my swordsmanship is actually working against real fighters.  All that training is really paying off, I hate to admit it, but maybe I should thank Kaoru for this._

The other men had by this time recovered from their sudden shock and one of them sprang forward towards Yahiko.  This time instead of trying to block the attack Yahiko simply used his much shorter stature to duck under the blow and bring his shinai up and used the hilt to ram into the man’s diaphragm and the man hit the ground gasping for breath. 

_I know how that feels,_ Yahiko thought in triumph, _Kaoru’s hit me there enough for me to know exactly how long it’ll take to recover from that blow._

“Damn, that brat is actually doing well,” Sanosuke commented, surprised that Yahiko was still on his feet.  _Maybe I shouldn’t tease him so much…_ he thought about it for a moment.  _Nah,_ he concluded, _it’s too much fun._

Kenshin kept watching the fight intently, _come on Yahiko, come on._

Yahiko blocked the attack the third fighter aimed at him.  The force of the blow causing him to skid back a few inches but Yahiko showed not the slightest sign of backing down.  Kenshin’s eyes widen in panic as he saw the first man Yahiko had beaten get to his knees, pick up his fallen weapon and swing it hard against Yahiko’s back.  Yahiko’s eyes went distant and he hit the ground with a thud.

“Get him now that he’s down,” one of the men yelled and the four henchmen of Lord Miko surround Yahiko and started kicking and beating him with their weapons.

“Stop it!” Tsubame yelled as she started forward to stop them but Lord Miko grabbed her and threw her against the wall. 

“Stay out of this,” he ordered her.

Meanwhile Kenshin had his own female interference to deal with.  Almost the same moment that the first man Yahiko had beaten down rose to his knees to strike Yahiko in the back, Kaoru had gasped and started forward on her crutches to intervene.  Kenshin grabbed her by the hair and pulled her back around the corner before anyone could see her.

“Hold it,” he told her calmly.

Kaoru turned on him with angry eyes and rubbed the back of her head with one hand.  “What are you doing Kenshin?” she hissed at him angrily.  “I can’t let this happen to my first apprentice even if he is a big brat.”

“Kaoru-dono if anyone should interfere then it shouldn’t be you, after all you are hurt and not even able to walk without crutches, that you are.” He told her calmly.

At that moment a fist collided with Kenshin’s skull.  “Are you really just going to stand there and let him be slaughtered?”  Sanosuke demanded in a harsh tone.  _For someone trying to help everyone he can with his sword this is way out of character._

Kenshin rubbed his skull in pain.  “Yahiko doesn’t know that we are here, how do we explain suddenly showing up?”  Kenshin pointed out in pain.  “Besides if one is always being helped then one will never improve.  Yahiko stepped into this fight on his own and that is how he wants to finish it.”

Sanosuke rubbed his jaw, “you got a point, if the kid wants to be a man then I guess he has to work this out on his own.”

Kaoru looked at them both as though they had just started spouting French poetry.  Without warning, she turned and started forward to help Yahiko but Kenshin and Sanosuke wrestled her back.

“Let me go,” Kaoru cried as she squirmed against their grasp.

“You’re going to have to stop mothering him at some point and today’s as good as any.”  Sanosuke told her.

“You’re both crazy, what’s the point of acting like a man if Yahiko gets himself killed?” Kaoru demanded.

_When Kaoru-dono has children of her own I feel sorry for the person that tries to hurt them,_ Kenshin thought as they fought to hold Kaoru back.

“Come on, stand up and fight if you can!” one of the men taunted as they beat Yahiko.  At first Yahiko had tried to get back on his feet, but realizing that such attempts were to no avail he curled into a ball to protect his vitals.  He had been beaten enough times to know how to react.

“PLEASE STOP!” Tsubame sobbed, she ran up to Lord Miko holding out a clay block with the imprint of a key in it.  “Here’s the imprint, please take it and let the boy go.  He’s not a part of this, please just let him go,” she begged.

“Feh,” Lord Miko spat as he snatched the mold away from Tsubame, “we have bigger fish to fry anyways.  That’s enough!” he called to his men.

“Right boss,” the men responded as they stepped away from Yahiko.

“Keep up the good work Tsubame,” Lord Miko called over his shoulder as he and his men left with a laugh.

“Be seeing you around Yahiko- _chan_ ,” the men mocked with a course laugh as they disappeared.

Tsubame ran over to Yahiko who was starting to lift himself off the ground in obvious pain.  “Are you all right?” she asked in concern.

“If it had been one-on-one I might have…” Yahiko grimaced as he pulled himself up into a sitting position. 

Tsubame lowered her face in shame, “I’m so sorry that you got involved in this, forgive me,” Tsubame begged him.

Her words sent a shock wave of anger coursing through Yahiko, “forget it,” he said with a snarl and Tsubame look at him in shock.  “It takes at least a day to get a good key from a mold,” he mused as he used his shinai to lift himself to his feet.  “So that means they’ll probably strike tomorrow night or later, probably tomorrow so they don’t have to risk you doing something to stop them.”  Yahiko by now had lifted himself to his feet and was using his shinai to limp home.

“Yahiko-chan?” Tsubame asked with wide eyes.  “Oh sorry,” she gasped suddenly, her hand on her mouth at the slip of her tongue.

“Whatever,” Yahiko responded solemnly as he slowly limped away.  “If I can’t even take on bums like that them I guess I am still a little kid.  And you didn’t get me involved in this,” he called loudly to her over his shoulder.  “I got _myself_ into this so don’t worry about it okay?”

“Yahiko-chan…” Tsubame whispered in wonder, _even after all that he’s not angry at me for involving him?_

Yahiko limped down the alley in deep thought.  _I can’t tell the cops ‘cause then she’d end up as an accomplice.  And I can’t get Kenshin and the other’s involved in this, those guys aren’t even worth Kenshin’s time anyways. That makes this_ my _fight,_ he thought fiercely.

Kenshin and the other’s watched him leave.  After Tsubame had wiped the tears off her face and run back to the Akabeko to finish her shift, Kaoru turn to the two men, her brow arched.  “Jerks,” she spat as she backhanded both of them in the chest before spinning on her heel and limping off. 

Kenshin and Sanosuke waited until she had her back turned to them before winching and rubbing their sore chests.  “Kenshin do us all a favor and invest in some kind of leash or chain or something, I might even pitch in for it.”  Sanosuke begged.

“This one will think about it,” Kenshin replied.  _Sano willing to pay for anything?  He must be serious about this._

_***_

Yahiko limped his way home, he spent the entire time trying to figure out what he was going to say to Kaoru and the others.  Mostly Kaoru, he didn’t want her chewing him out on top of everything else.  If that happened he was liable to lose it.

He kept coming up with excuses in his head for his appearance, each less believable than the last.  _Damn it,_ Yahiko swore, knowing that even if he came up with the perfect cover story it would still be lying.  _But I can’t get the others in on this, this isn’t their fight._

He sneaked in through the side gate and glanced around seeing no one.  He breathed a sigh of relief.  _Finally, I get a break for a change._   As quickly as he could he limped into the house, dragged the medicine chest to his room, treated his injuries, and washed up.  Once he had removed most of the signs of his earlier beating, he stepped out, ready to face the others.

He grabbed a broom and started sweeping the house, figuring that Kaoru was less likely to be angry at him if he was doing housework.

“Oh Yahiko there you are,” Kaoru said in slight annoyance as she limped into the room that Yahiko had just finished sweeping.  She narrowed her eyes as she eyed him.  “Did Kenshin ask you to sweep?”

He shook his head quickly, “Nah, I just walked in and saw the floor was kind of dirty so I decided to do it on my own,” he explained quickly.  _She’s got to have something nice to say about that, after all I think I did a pretty good job cleaning this floor._

Kaoru glanced around as though trying to find some fault with his behavior, “You missed that corner, try doing it right next time,” she pointed out before turning and leaving.

Yahiko glanced at the offending corner and groaned. _Two specks of dirt and Kaoru acts as though I hadn’t done any work at all.  It isn’t fair._   The rest of the day seemed almost surreal to him.  Everyone seemed to ignore his growing black eye.  No one asked where he had disappeared to.  In fact, they almost seemed to ignore him altogether.  Yahiko was too wrapped up in his own dilemma about how he was going to face Lord Miko and his gang to realized to realize how out of character their behavior was.

That night after everyone had gone to bed Yahiko laid in bed puzzling over his situation.  _What can I do?_ He wondered.  _I don’t know how to take on a group myself, if it was one-on-one, I might stand a chance but not against all those guys at once._   He thought in desperation.  _I need to find a way to beat them, maybe I can ask Kaoru tomorrow to teach me a few tricks of how to take on a group.  I know she’s got to know how, she fought that gang that attacked the dojo and all.  And the yakuzua when she came to bust me out._   Yahiko rolled over and closed his eyes, his decision made.  _That’s the best I can do for now I guess._

_***_

Yahiko had cornered his prey in the alley behind the little room he shared with his mother.  The cat backed up in fear against the wall, hissing and spitting as Yahiko burnished his wooden dagger at the creature. 

“Take this you imperialist dog,” he cried as he leaped forward in a clumsily imitation of a thrust.  The cat was quicker.  It jumped to one side and swiped Yahiko’s hand with its claws before running off down the alley.

“Ow,” Yahiko cried, dropping his toy dagger.  He started crying as his blood welled up from the scratches the cat had made.

“Mommy,” Yahiko cried as he went running into the little room his mother called ‘home.’  It wasn’t their real home, they had left that one and his mother told him that they could never go back.  Yahiko was too young to understand that she had to sell the place.  All he knew was that he hated his new ‘home’.  It smelled like decay, there were rats, and all the men leered at his mother as though they knew something he didn’t. 

His mother looked up in concern as he came running in crying and flung his arms around her neck.  “What’s wrong Yahiko-chan?” she asked in concern.

“The cat scratched me and it hurts,” he bawled.

Her face twisted in concern and she gently took his hand and examined his cuts.  “Come here Yahiko-chan and let me wash it.”

Yahiko obediently followed his mother over to the bucket of water in the corner and sobbed quietly while his mother gently washed the wound.  “There, now it won’t get infected,” she told him brightly.

“But it still hurts,” he moaned, his head bowed.

She tenderly tilted his head up and smiled at him, “do you want me to kiss it to make it feel better?” she asked.

Yahiko nodded his head and she gently kissed his hurt hand.  “I want to go home Mommy, I HATE it here!” he declared suddenly.

A flash of pain crossed his mother’s face and her face grew serious.  “Yahiko-chan we can’t go home.  That isn’t our home anymore, it’s someone else’s now.”

“I don’t care,” Yahiko sulked.  “Why did Daddy have to die and leave us alone?”

She looked at him solemnly, “he was doing what he felt was right Yahiko-chan, when you grow up and become a man you will understand.”

“But shouldn’t a man take care of his family, isn’t that his first duty?” Yahiko asked her.

His mother lowered her head slightly, “well I suppose that depends on the man.”

Yahiko clenched his jaw, “well I never leave you Mommy, I’m going to grow up big and strong and I’m going to take care of the both of us.  I’m never going to let anything happen to us.”

His mother looked at him proudly before scooping him up in a big hug.  “That’s right Yahiko-chan.  I know you will be a good man.”  She pulled back and started smoothing down his unruly hair.  “I guess I won’t be able to call you chan anymore when you’re all grown up.”

Yahiko grinned at her, “yep, when I’m a man and able to take care of us both then no one will be able to call me chan.”

His mother laughed merrily, “now Yahiko-chan, run outside and play a little more, but don’t go too far,” she warned him.

“I won’t Mommy,” he promised as he ran to the door.

TWEET!

Yahiko’s eyes open in shock at the ear splitting call of a bird outside of his room.  “What the hell?” he asked as he bolted straight up in bed.  He felt his heart pounding at the sudden shock.  He listened for a few more moments but there was nothing but the usual morning sounds, the sunlight from the rising sun beginning to light up his room.

Yahiko threw back his covers, limped over to his washbasin, splashed some water over his face, and threw on his clothes, figuring that he might as well get up.  He walked outside with his shinai and started practicing his blocks and attacks.  _I need to be ready for tonight.  I let Mother down because I was too little to take care of the both of us.  I won’t be that weak again._   With those thoughts for motivation, Yahiko forced himself to train through the pain.

  Once the sun had made its way well over the walls of the dojo Yahiko had worked out most of the stiffness from the beating he had received the day before.

“Good morning Yahiko,” Kenshin called behind him.

“Oh hey Kenshin,” Yahiko answered, stopping his practice and turning to face Kenshin.  “Need any help with breakfast?” Yahiko offered.

Kenshin shook his head, “this one can see to it alone, that I can.  You should keep up your practice.”

“Oh okay,” Yahiko replied.

“And Yahiko,” Kenshin called, just as he was about to turn and leave.

“Yeah Kenshin?”

“Your stance should be a little deeper,” Kenshin advised him before disappearing back into the house.

Yahiko groaned, _simple enough for him to say, right now with as much as I hurt this is the best I can do._   He sighed before screwing up his face and sliding his back foot further back until he was in a proper stance, trying to ignore the stinging pain in his body.  Yahiko tried a few more exercises until he was gasping in pain and gave up.

_Damn it, this isn’t good enough,_ Yahiko thought.  _I’ve got to find a way to beat those guys._

_***_

To say Kaoru was upset was an understatement.  Livid would be a better way to describe what she was feeling about the situation.  She hated that Yahiko had gotten himself in over his head with a former samurai seeking to use a young girl to help him commit robbery on her best friend’s family.  She hated how Kenshin and Sanosuke had prevented her from coming to Yahiko’s aid when he was being beaten by the samurai’s men, and she especially hated how Sanosuke and Kenshin had made her swear that she wouldn’t get involved or let Yahiko know that she knew what was going on.

It was after breakfast and she and Yahiko were alone in the dojo ready to start their lessons and Kaoru was having to keep her jaw clench to keep something from spilling.

“Hey Kaoru I’ve got an idea for today’s lesson,” Yahiko spouted up suddenly.

Kaoru looked at the boy’s face, a stunning black eye from the previous day’s beating and that was only the injury she could see.  Judging from the careful way that he had been moving he had been hurt badly but was doing his best to hide it from the others.  She carefully told herself that she had promised not to say anything to Kenshin and Sanosuke.  That however wasn’t going to prevent her from trying to get Yahiko to tell her on his own.  “What’s that?”  Kaoru asked trying to sound chipper.  She felt a growing dread knowing what Yahiko was going to ask and knowing that she couldn’t teach him what he needed to know.

“I was just wanting to know if you could teach me some techniques for taking on a group,” Yahiko replied with a shrug, trying to seem unconcerned.

“You’re just a beginner Yahiko, something like that takes more experience than frankly you’ve got.” Kaoru told him bluntly.  “And what’s with the sudden interest, is something going on?” she asked.  _Come on Yahiko, tell me please, you don’t have to be an idiot about this just please tell me._

Yahiko’s eyes widen in shock.  “No, nothing’s going on,” he protested.  “And what do you mean ‘experience’?  Is that just your way of saying that you don’t know how either?” he goaded her.  _Maybe if I piss her off she’ll teach me something just to show me that she knows what she’s doing._

Kaoru felt her hidden frustration starting to break through her carefully constructed walls, _never mind, be an idiot.  But there is no way you can do this on your own at your skill level Yahiko, I don’t care how much talent you’ve got, it’s just not possible._   “Look Yahiko no matter what you might tell yourself, you’re still a beginner.  When fighting a group they try tricks like encirclements, combinations, and waves.  None of which you have the basic skill set to confront.  We’ll get there Yahiko but not for a while yet.”

“So you’re not going to teach me how to fight a group?” Yahiko asked in frustration.

“Not today Yahiko, maybe in a couple of months you’ll be ready.  But definitely not today,” she answered firmly.  _Come on Yahiko, you’ve still got time.  Please say something before you force me to interfere._   “Now come on, let’s get to the actual lesson.”

“Forget it!” Yahiko screamed at her, his anger and frustration finally pushing him to the breaking point.

“Yahiko?” Kaoru asked in a quiet voice, taken aback by naked anger in the boy’s eyes.

“If you can’t teach me then I won’t waste my time with you!” Yahiko screamed one final time before turning on his heel and running out the open dojo doors and through the front gate.

“Yahiko!”  Kaoru yelled as she hurried after the boy as fast as she could hobble on crutches.  She made it out of the dojo but in her haste tripped and fell when she tried to take the step down to the paved walkway leading to the gate.  She hit the ground hard, the paving stones stinging her knees and palms.  “Ow,” she muttered as she pulled herself up into a sitting position, staring in despair at the gate Yahiko had disappeared through.  “Damn it!” she swore, hitting the ground with her open hand, feeling tears pricking the corners of her eyes. 

_I want to help you Yahiko, the gods only know how much I wish I could just stand back and let you take this fight yourself.  But you’re not ready yet, and I can’t teach you how to be in the time you have._   Kaoru stood up, feeling her own helplessness.  She hobbled around the complex of buildings to where Kenshin was cleaning up the breakfast dishes by the well as Sanosuke was telling him a story.

“…Well then we decided to cap the evening off by heading down to one of the brothels to spend our hard earned money and I met this prostitute named Momoka and that’s when the fun got started, you see I…”  Sanosuke trailed off in his story as he saw Kaoru come around the corner.  Kenshin glanced quickly behind him and blanched when he saw Kaoru’s expression.

“Oh please do go on,” Kaoru said archly, “this sounds like such an _interesting_ story.”  _Is this seriously what these guy’s talk about when I’m not around?_   Kaoru thought in disgust.  _Men are pigs._

The two men glanced at each other nervously.  _The Missy has the worst timing,_ Sanosuke thought.  _And I was just getting to the fight with the spear wielding midget._

“Kaoru-dono, you and Yahiko are finished with lessons already?” Kenshin asked quickly in a desperate attempt to cover.  _Kaoru-dono you really couldn’t have waited a bit?  I wanted to hear about the midget, Sano said this was a good story._

Kaoru gave both of the men a look before limping over to sit down on the newly fixed porch.  “Not exactly, that brat ran off on me.” She complained.

“Yahiko ran away?” Kenshin asked in shock, _he hasn’t run out on a lesson since he agreed to be an apprentice here._

“Well I can’t blame him too much,” Kaoru moaned.  “He asked me to teach him how to fight a group and at his level I just don’t know how.  I mean he might stand a chance with one on one but that’s about it.”  She flopped her head in her hands, her elbows resting on her knees. 

“You do have a point Kaoru-dono,” Kenshin agreed with her as he continued washing.  “This one was training for several years before Master started to teach this one how to face a group alone.”  _And Hiten-Misurugi-ryu is all about being able to face an army alone if needed._

“Great,” Kaoru moaned.  “Well do you guys got any ideas of how I could teach him?”  She asked in desperation.

“What’s wrong with the way I learned how?”  Sanosuke asked.  “Just let him fight on his own for a while and if he doesn’t get creamed then he’ll figure it out.”

Kaoru looked at him with a brow raised.  “And did the first group you ever faced on your own come armed with bokkens and possibly daggers and swords?”

Sanosuke scratched his head in thought.  “Nah, they did have rocks and sticks if that helps.”

Kaoru rolled her eyes.  “What about you Kenshin?  How did you end up learning in the end?”

Kenshin looked at her with a large nervous grin.  “This one does not think that Yahiko would appreciate that method very much, indeed he wouldn’t.”  _I know I didn’t._

“What could be so bad about it?” Sanosuke asked.

Kenshin laughed uncomfortably, “just trust this one.”

“Oh come on Kenshin, I’m with Sanosuke what could be so bad?”  Kaoru demanded.

“Well if you really want to know…”  Kenshin sat back on his heels as he started to relate the story, “this one was about Yahiko’s age when Master decided to teach this one about group fighting…”

 

_Kenshin breathed hard as he ran through the snow with a drawn sword in his hand.  He raced up the side of the mountain and through the forest of pines, his breath fogging up in the frosty air.  Suddenly a small, pinecone flew through the air towards him.  Kenshin leaped into the air and with two quick slashes quartered it in mid leap.  He hit the ground and pivoted as his Master came up behind him with a slash down with his long nihontou, a sword even longer than the katana Kenshin carried.  His Master shoved him back before throwing two more pinecones in the air.  Kenshin strained his tired muscles, leaped into the air, and quickly slashed and quarter both pinecones before landing on the ground panting in the icy air._

_His Master gave him a long stare before picking up one of the sliced pinecones and inspecting it.  “Sloppy work, even for you, they shouldn’t fall apart until they hit the ground you moron.  Or have you forgotten that?”_

_Kenshin made a face at him, “I can’t help it if I’m tired can I Master?  After all we’ve been training like this all day.”_ This morning I was doing the exercise perfectly, why does he expect perfection from me when I bone tired and numb to the core?  _Kenshin thought bitterly._

_His Master looked at him with an arched brow, “I don’t give a damn if you’re on your death’s door, we’re staying out here until you do something right for a change.”_

_Kenshin groaned as he looked at the setting sun.  It was already cold and with the coming night the temperature would drop even more.  “Yes Master,” he groaned in response._ I hate my life.

_His Master pulled out his bag of pinecones that he had made Kenshin collect earlier and started throwing them into the air, forcing Kenshin to quarter them correctly, yelling at him every time he messed up.  Kenshin gritted his teeth and swore constantly in his mind the whole time, using the language he had learned from his Master, it was pointless he knew but it made him feel a little better.  The exercise continued until they heard the sounds of a man screaming in the distance.  Both Kenshin and his Master looked around in surprise.  “Someone’s in trouble,” Kenshin said in a shocked voice before he pinpointed the direction the screaming was coming from and took off running with new vigor._

_“Kenshin!” his Master called behind him but the sounds of screaming was too strong of an impulse for Kenshin.  Then suddenly they ended.  Kenshin raced to an overhang where ten feet below he saw a pack of wolves tearing into its kill.  With sickening realization, Kenshin realized it was man’s body.  His Master came up behind him and was also stared down at the man’s remains._

_“Looks like winter’s gone on too long, the wolves are getting hungry,” his Master commented mildly._

_Kenshin looked at him in shock, “how can you take this so calmly Master?” he questioned.  “That used to be a person down there.”_ How can he be so cold?

_“And now it’s not,” his Master replied smoothly.  “That’s part of living Kenshin, get used to it.”  His Master looked down at the wolf pack.  “Although this does give me an idea, it’s time you got some real training fighting a group.”_

_“Huh?” Kenshin asked, not understanding what his Master meant.  His surprise became even greater as his Master grabbed the back of his hakama and haori and threw him off the overhang.  Kenshin hit the ground, his fall softened by the deep snow, and rolled, getting his feet under himself as he had been taught before glancing up to see the wolves were staring at this disturbance to their feast.  Kenshin gulped as he stared at their blood socked fur and bared teeth, he slowly got to his feet, gripping his katana so hard in both hands as he slipped into a fighting stance that his hands shook.  “Master?!”  Kenshin yelled, as the wolves staked slowly towards him with hungry eyes._

_“Consider this pass or fail on fighting a group,” his Master yelled down.  “Oh and Kenshin, if I have to come down there and rescue your ass then I will be very upset.”_

_Kenshin glanced up at his Master in alarm before turning quickly back as the first wolf leaped towards him.  Kenshin felt a sudden wave of energy running through his tired body as the adrenaline hit his bloodstream.  He stepped to one side and sliced the wolf in half with one cut before pivoting around to thrust through the chest of a second who leaped towards him.  Kenshin withdrew his sword quickly as the rest of the pack circled for a moment before two sprung forward from the front while another had managed to work itself around behind him.  Kenshin saw the flash from the one behind him out of the corner of his eye and was able to move slightly so that the wolf only managed to bite through the cloth of his hakama.  Meanwhile Kenshin slashed and hacked at the wolves in front of him._

_“MASTER, I HATE YOU!” Kenshin yelled in fury as he hacked through the pack, staining the white snow a bright red._

_Meanwhile his Master sat on a log above as he observed the fight.  “That seems fair,” he commented mildly as he pulled a small bottle of saki from within his clock and started sipping on it._

 

Kenshin finished his story, Kaoru’s mouth was open as she struggled for words but nothing came out.  Meanwhile Sanosuke looked at his friend in alarm, _the proverb does say that ‘lions drop their young down a cliff,’ even so that was a little too literal of an interpretation,_ Sanosuke thought.  _No wonder Kenshin has so many problems if that’s the way he grew up._   “So you literally got thrown to the wolves huh?” Sanosuke commented slowly.

Kenshin grinned painfully back, “yes, yes this one was.”  _And I had nightmares about it for months.  Even now I’m paranoid about anyone standing close to me when I’m near an overhang or cliff._

“Well, guess your Master must have been happy that you killed the whole pack then, right?”   Sanosuke asked.

“Actually no,” Kenshin sighed.  “he was very angry that I let one of the wolves tear this one’s hakama’s so he made this one bury the man in the frozen ground before we could go home, all the while he was lecturing about how much of an inconvenience it was for him to keep this one fed and clothed.  This one’s hands were so numb I thought I might end up losing a few fingers, that I did.”

By this time, Kaoru had regained her voice, “Kenshin,” she said in a strained voice.  “Was your Master trying to get you killed?”

Kenshin considered her question for a moment, “I’m not sure to be honest.”  He remembered he had asked that same question to his Master after he had killed the wolf pack.  The only reply Kenshin had received for his question was a low evil laugh before his Master had forced him to bury the man’s body in punishment for ruining his clothes.

Kaoru gulped before continuing in the same strained tone.  “Well no offense to you or your sadistic Master but I don’t plan on ever adding that to the training tactics here at the school.”

Kenshin’s face brighten up, “your students will never know how lucky they are, that they will not.”

“Anyways,” Kaoru said in a more down-to-earth tone.  “This still doesn’t address the real dilemma.  How can we let Yahiko face this gang at his skill level?  I mean he’s going to get himself killed!  We can’t let that happen no matter about this whole ‘pride’ or ‘being a man’ thing.  It’s just stupid to let him walk into this alone.”

Kenshin stared aimlessly at the garden as he thought, “you say he can’t fight a group by himself and this one will agree.  But you think he would have a chance if it was one on one?”

Kaoru nodded, “yeah, the brat actually has talent and could probably hold his own.  But it’s not like they are going to play nice Kenshin even if you ask them.”  She pointed out.

Kenshin turned and smiled at her, “that isn’t what this one was thinking.  I actually thought of a way Yahiko could beat those men, that I have.  Just leave it to this one Kaoru-dono.”

“Kenshin what do you have in mind?” Kaoru asked with suspension. 

Kenshin was prevented from answering as two small figures suddenly came bolting around the house and caught Kenshin in a big hug that knocked him over.

“Uncle Kenny, Uncle Kenny,” Ayame and Suzume squealed in a happy tone.  “We got you didn’t we Uncle Kenny?” they asked.

Kenshin smiled, in truth he had seen them coming but he had stayed still in order for them to think they gotten him.

“Oh so you two only want to see your Uncle Kenney now?  I don’t matter anymore?” Kaoru asked with mock hurt.

Instantly the girls turned their attention away from Kenshin, ran over and gave Kaoru a big hug.  “We love you too Kaoru,” Ayame told her happily.

“I hope you don’t mind looking after them for the afternoon,” Megumi said as she came around the corner with an amused smile.  “Doctor Gensei is taking me with him on a case and we needed someone to watch the girls.”

“We are always happy to have them,” Kenshin told her with a smile.

“I wish I could stay a little longer but Doctor Gensei is waiting, we’ll be back around dinner to pick them up if all goes well,” Megumi told them before she turned and left.

“Kaoru?” Ayame asked as she tugged at Kaoru’s sleeve, “Auntie Megumi has been helping me learn to sew and I’ve been working on a project but I got stuck, can you help me?”

Kaoru smiled at the little girl, “you bet I can, let’s go inside and see what we can do, okay?  I still have to finish the last of Yahiko’s new clothes anyways.”

Suzume made a face before running over to Kenshin, her little doll clench firmly in one hand “can we do something together Uncle Kenny?” she pleaded with big eyes. 

Kenshin kneeled down to look the little girl in the eye as Ayame and Kaoru made their way into the house.  “Well little one, this one was going to go into town to buy some tofu for dinner, would you like to come along?” he asked gently.

Suzume nodded her head, “will you carry me Uncle Kenny?” she asked with big eyes.

Kenshin smiled before holding his arms out to her, gratefully Suzume climbed up and wrapped her little arms around his neck and snuggled up to him.  Kenshin got a firm hold on the little girl before going into the kitchen to get a small tub to carry the tofu back in.  In truth, he had little intention of buying any tofu.  But he figured it would be a good excuse to search the town for where Yahiko had gone to.

Sanosuke looked around as everyone had just left him on the porch.  “Guess I get to take a nap then?”


	5. Yahiko Stands Alone

**Chapter 4**

**Yahiko Stands Alone**

Yahiko swung at the board with a yell as he twisted to hit the next set of boards before leaping forward to thrust at yet another board hanging from the limbs of the willow tree by the river.  Yahiko winced in pain as two boards came around to strike him across the back as he swung his arm out to keep another third board from smacking him in the face.  _I’m not going to let Tsubame down,_ he thought fiercely.  _I let Mother down because I was too little and weak to take care of us both, I’m not going to let that happen now._ He moved around to the other side of the tree to attack the boards hanging there.

Since Kaoru had been unable to help him, Yahiko felt the need to take matters into his own hands.  He had spent the morning hanging boards at various heights from the willow tree.  He had been practicing by striking at the boards and trying to get all the boards swinging without ever being hit once by a board.  So far the best he had managed was to only be hit ten times by the boards.  Yahiko danced out of the swinging radius of the boards before winching at his injuries and flopping on the grass to stare in despair at the boards swaying from the tree.  _Damn it, if this is the best I can do I might as well hand over all the money the Sekihara family has myself._

“How am I going to be able to fight against all those guys?”  Yahiko wondered aloud.  Yahiko turned in shock when he heard a someone clearing their throat behind him.  He breathed a slight sigh of relief when he saw that it was only Kenshin with Suzume asleep in his arms and the small tub that they used to fetch tofu in his hand.  “Oh hey Kenshin, getting tofu?”  Yahiko asked.

Kenshin nodded, “do you mind if this one joins you?”  Kenshin asked.

Yahiko shook his head and Kenshin came over to sit down next to him, Suzume leaning against Kenshin’s shoulder with her doll firmly grasped against her chest.  Yahiko felt a slight wistfulness, wishing he could feel that peaceful but with the fight looming over him and time rapidly ticking away as the afternoon sun slowly faded into evening twilight he just felt an increasing tenseness.  “Bet you want to say something about the way I treated Kaoru this morning,” Yahiko stated as he turned to look at the river flowing by.  “Well you don’t have to, I’ll apologize when I get back so don’t worry about it okay?”  In fact he had felt pretty horrible about it the moment he had run away.  He had thought several times during the day about going back and apologizing but then there would be questions about his behavior, questions he wasn’t ready to answer yet.

“This one wasn’t here to talk about that Yahiko, in fact Kaoru-dono wasn’t really all that upset about it.  She understands your desire to improve your skills, that she does.”  Kenshin told him quietly.

“Then what are you here for?”  Yahiko asked in curiosity.

“Just out to get tofu, and I thought I would rest for a while before going all the way to the market, that I did.” Kenshin assured him.

“Oh,” Yahiko replied.  He glanced at Kenshin out of the corner of his eye.  Kenshin didn’t meet his gaze.  He simply looked at the river.  _Kenshin can take on a group no problem, he’s got to have a way to help me._   Yahiko thought desperately, _worth a shot anyways,_ “hey Kenshin,” Yahiko stated suddenly.  “I was just wondering if you could teach me a trick or two in how to take on a bunch of guys at once.”

“This one won’t teach Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu.  Satsujin-ken is no good either,” Kenshin replied simply.

“You’re not helping Kenshin,” Yahiko growled in frustration.  _He’s not even listening._

Kenshin looked at him out of the corner of one eye, “Yahiko, you wouldn’t happen to be in some siltation where you would need to know something like that now, would you?”  _You know there’s no shame in asking for help don’t you Yahiko?_  Kenshin thought to himself.  _In fact that is a sign of strength because you know what your limits are._

“I’m just curious,” Yahiko replied quickly, avoiding the question.  “So do you know anything I could learn in a day or so or not?”  _Preferably in just a couple of hours,_ Yahiko thought as he looked at the waning sun.

“I see,” Kenshin responded, “well this one does know of a way.”

“Yeah, what’s that?” Yahiko demanded eagerly.  _Finally, I get a break._

“Yes, it was a method that was often used by the Ishin Shishi during the Bakumatsu when they were severely outnumbered.  First you run…”

“Run?”  Yahiko demanded incredulously, cutting Kenshin off midsentence.  “No way I’ll run from a fight.”

Kenshin looked at him in amusement.  “There is no shame in running from a fight you know you can’t win Yahiko.”

Yahiko screw up his face, “yeah, and next you’re going to tell me that you’ve run from a fight before.”

“Yes I have, almost as many times as this one has stayed and fought.”  Kenshin stated calmly.  _In fact when you get down to it, I was the one who came up with this method of fighting, even if it was by accident._

Yahiko’s eyes widen in surprise, “what…?” _Why would Kenshin ever need to run from a fight?_

Kenshin smiled at him, “well to be fair I pretended to run.”  _Though the first time I wasn’t pretending, how was I suppose to know that the inn happened to be where three squads of the Shinsengumi went for a drink?  Running seemed like a much better option than staying, besides I had to protect Tani-san and he was already three blocks away and I had to catch up with him.  He might not have been able to fight but he sure could run with the right motivation._

Yahiko furrowed his brows in puzzlement.  “Pretended to run?”

“Yes Yahiko, if you would let this one finish this time,” Kenshin told him briskly before continuing with his explanation.  “When you run the enemy will naturally chase after you, but of course there are differences in body weight and agility so the fastest one’s will catch up to you first.  Taking advantage of that, you turn and take that one down before running again.  If you keep that up you can take down all of your enemies, or at least get away and live to fight another day.”

“I get it,” Yahiko replied in excitement.  _This is easy, and I can definitely do that._

“Of course to use this one must be a fast runner and able to keep up the pace over a long distance,” Kenshin pointed out.

“Oh yeah,” Yahiko answered.  _Damn it, I’m fast but I can’t run all that far.  At least not compared to the others._   Yahiko thought as he remembered when they had rescued Megumi from Kanryu’s mansion.  The other’s had seemed tireless as the raced through the mansion, Yahiko on the other hand had barely been able to keep up.

“But the basic principle can be applied to any situation,” Kenshin went on.  “The whole point is forcing your opponent into a situation where they have to face you one on one.”

Yahiko’s eyes opened wide with that statement.  _Wait, so maybe I don’t have to be able to run all that far, just get them where they can only come at me one at a time._   A sudden thought occurred to Yahiko and he grinned, suddenly confident in what he had to do.  “Hey thanks for that Kenshin, I’ll keep that in mind if I’m ever in a situation where I’ve got to face a group of fighters,” Yahiko promised him, _like tonight for instance._

“Well this one is glad to be of service,” Kenshin replied happily.  “We should get back to the dojo.  Kaoru-dono will be upset if we miss dinner, that she will.”  Kenshin stood up, Suzume still asleep in his arms and Yahiko followed him as they started to make their way home as the sun slowly approached the horizon and burned the world in vibrant shades of red and gold.

“One more thing Yahiko,” Kenshin said in a solemn voice as they slowly made their way down the road.  Yahiko glanced up at him, “Kamiya Kasshin-ryu is katsujin-ken.  A sword you wield for the people, to _protect_ the people.  You carry two fates on your blade, yours and the one whom you protect.  When you lose with katsujin-ken, both those fates are closed, that is why he who wields katsujin-ken must understand that defeat is not an option.  You should keep that in your heart at all times Yahiko.”

“Yeah, okay Kenshin,” Yahiko replied with a gulp.  _He’s right, if I screw up tonight then not only will I get creamed, maybe even killed, but Tsubame will also have to live with whatever those bastards do to the Sekihara’s.  and it’s not just Tsubame I’ve got to protect, it’s Tae and the other’s too.  There’s no room for screw-ups here._

They walked along in silence for a while before a sudden thought hit Yahiko and he glanced up at Kenshin, “Hey weren’t you suppose to buy some tofu?”

“Oh you mean this?” Kenshin said with a slight laugh, holding up the empty tub meant for the tofu, “I don’t think it matters anymore.”

Yahiko stopped in the street and Kenshin stopped and turned to look at him.  “Yahiko, is something wrong?”

Yahiko shook his head, “nah, just remembered something, I’ll catch up to you in a bit.”  With that he turned and ran off.

Kenshin smiled slightly as he watched Yahiko run off before he turned and made his way home.

***

Kaoru left Ayame on a stool stirring the simmering pot of soup as she limped outside to where Sanosuke was sitting watching for Kenshin and Yahiko to come back.  “Any sign of them yet?” she asked in worry.

Sanosuke sighed and rolled his eyes, “for the hundredth time in the past five minutes, no!”

Kaoru pursed her lips, “you sure everything’s all right, I mean what if Kenshin couldn’t find Yahiko?”

Sanosuke let out a strangled call of frustration before turning to Kaoru.  “Look if anyone can find him it’s Kenshin.  And I’m sure Kenshin’s has some clever scheme for Yahiko to be able to fight those guys, so will you stop trying to mother hen everyone?”

Kaoru glared at him, “so what am I supposed to do, let them get themselves killed?” _And it’s not like I’d ever mother hen you!_

“If that’s what they want,” Sanosuke responded in a bored tone.  “Just stop annoying me in the meantime okay?”  _I feel sorry for the kids she has, they probably won’t learn how to wipe their noses on their own._

Kaoru glared at him before limping back into the kitchen.  Ayame looked up at her with a happy grin, “I think it’s ready Kaoru.”

“Well let’s see,” Kaoru replied, taking a spoon to taste it.

“The lone samurai returns,” Sanosuke called from outside.

“Here you can test it Ayame, I’ll be right back,” Kaoru said quickly as she handed the spoon to Ayame and took off outside as Kenshin strolled up to Sanosuke, the tub for tofu empty in one hand and Suzume asleep in his other arm. 

He looked at them with an arched brow, “were you waiting for this one?”

“Kenshin where’s Yahiko, did you find him?” Kaoru asked breathlessly.

Kenshin nodded, “this one found him all right.  We had a long talk and Yahiko knows what he has to do now.  Don’t worry about a thing Kaoru-dono.  Yahiko will be all right in this fight, that he will.” He assured her.

Kaoru glanced around, “but where is he now, he’s not off to fight those guys right now is he?”

“So what if he is?”  Sanosuke blurted out before Kenshin could respond.

Kaoru glared at him and Kenshin hurried to answer Kaoru’s question before Kaoru could reply to Sanosuke. “He’s probably just seeing to the preparations for tonight, besides it is unlikely that they will try to rob them now while the family is still awake, that it is.”

“So what are we going to do tonight?” Kaoru asked.

Sanosuke and Kenshin looked at her in confusion.  “We have a good night sleep and see how things turn out in the morning.”  Sanosuke told her bluntly.

“But…” Kaoru started.

“We don’t get involved in this Kaoru-dono, this is Yahiko’s fight.” Kenshin told her firmly.  “I ask that you promise this one that.”

_Oh why did he have to go and ask it like that?_   Kaoru thought in desperation.  _Of course I’d promise Kenshin almost anything, damn it._   She hung her head, “okay, I promise.” She whispered.  _I hate you so much right now._

“Well then it’s decided, we all get a good night’s sleep tonight while the brat is off getting himself killed.  Now on to more important matters, how ‘bout that dinner, is it done?” Sanosuke asked clapping his hands together in anticipation.

***

Yahiko carefully strapped his shinai across his back as he slowly slid back the door to his room and glanced around the dark house, it was late and everyone else was in bed.  He quietly sneaked out of his room and made his way cautiously out into the yard.  When he got to the gate he pulled out the key he had swiped from Kaoru earlier in the evening, unlocked it and stepped out into the street where he closed and relocked the gate before carefully tucking the key into his kimono.

_So far so good,_ Yahiko thought to himself.  He took off running down the street, making his way into town where Tae’s family had their home.  _On my sword I carry the fate of those I’m trying to protect,_ Yahiko thought to himself, remembering Kenshin’s words earlier.  _Defeat isn’t an option tonight.  I Yahiko Myojin, first apprentice of Kamiya Kasshin-ryu will honor my school and myself tonight in battle._

_***_

Outside of Tae’s home a group of men dressed in dark clothing, scarves wrapped around their faces, crept up to the front gate.  “All right, let’s go,” Lord Miko whispered quietly.

“We really going to do this Miko-san?” One of his men asked in a worried voice.

“Eh?  You getting scared now?” Lord Miko scoffed.  “I told you, these merchants wouldn’t have any money if not for the samurai.  So we deserve to take it right?”  he laughed quietly as he pulled out the key that had been made from the mold Tsubame had given him and started tossing it in the air and catching it. “Don’t worry, we won’t fail.  We’ve even got a key thanks to that stupid girl…”

At that moment, a small dark figure darted out of the shadows, grabbed the keys in midair, and ran past Lord Miko until it came skidding to a halt several yards away from the men.  The gang turned to stared in shock at the figure as Yahiko slowly stood up, holding the key in his hand with a wide grin.

“Hey you’re the brat from yesterday,” Lord Miko cried in shock.

Yahiko’s grin grew wider, “I may be a pickpocket but you guys are even worse, if you want this back then you’re going to have to pry it out of my cold dead hands first.”  Yahiko challenged them before he turned and took off running.

“Get that punk and make him pay!” Lord Miko yelled and the men took off running after Yahiko’s figure as he wound his way through the city streets.

Meanwhile Tsubame watched the sight with wide eyes from around a corner, she had come all the way back into town from her family’s home just outside Tokyo to try and reason with Lord Miko one more time.  The last thing she expected was for Yahiko to involve himself again.  “Yahiko-chan,” she whispered.  _He really wants to help me, even after before…_

Tsubame screamed and jumped into the air as a hand descended on her shoulder.  She turned in fright, a thousand horrors flashing through her mind.  She expected it to be some evil looking thieves or murderers, however, it was just a young woman on crutches and dressed in men’s clothes.

“It’s dangerous for a girl to be walking alone this late at night,” she told her calmly, a slight smile on her face.

 “Who are you?” she gasped.

“Kaoru Kamiya, I’m Yahiko’s master,” Kaoru answered.  _When the brat lets me be that is._   “So you came all this way to try and stop them one last time right?”

Tsubame’s eyes widen, _she knew?  How could she know?_ “Y-yes.” She stammered.

Kaoru just nodded, “well come on let’s catch up with them okay?”  With that Kaoru took off with surprising speed considering she was on crutches.  Tsubame was hard pressed to keep up with her as she ran off after Yahiko and Lord Miko and his men.

***

Yahiko raced down the street until he reached his destination.  He turned down a narrow alley that dead-ended into a building.  He reached the end before turning and facing the men as the blocked the entrance.

“We’ve got you cornered now,” they informed him with a laugh.

“Yeah, you better say your prayers you punk.”

_All right,_ Yahiko thought to himself as he pulled the shinai off his back and held it in front of himself.  _Kenshin, I hope this works._   “Come on and get me!” Yahiko yelled with more courage than he felt.  “This time I’m not losing to you scum!”

The men snorted and two of them stalked towards him, Yahiko slowly backed up, hoping that his preparations earlier in scouting out the terrain were going to pay off.  _Any second now, any second…_   Yahiko thought in desperation as the wall behind him was getting far too close for Yahiko’s comfort. 

“What the…?” one of the men approaching him gasped as he got stuck shoulder to shoulder with the other man.

_Yes!_   Yahiko thought as he sprang forward and struck both men with one slash down in a diagonal direction, catching them both across the face and cracking their skulls together with a sickening sound.  _They’ll probably stay down for a bit after that,_ Yahiko thought with pride.

“Which of you mule faced assholes is next?” Yahiko screamed at them defiantly, feeling far more confident realizing that his plan was working out the way he had hoped it would.

Unbeknownst to Yahiko, by this time Kaoru and Tsubame had caught up with him.  They were hiding in the shadows of a building’s overhang.  They stayed back, watching the fight but not interfering.  Tsubame started crying softly, and Kaoru turned to her in concern.  “What’s wrong Tsubame?” she asked gently.

Tsubame was so consumed in herself that she didn’t even wonder how Kaoru knew her name.  “I was always taught that the way of samurai family was to serve the family of the master.  But I couldn’t let others suffer because of it so I came here to try and stop them and then I saw Yahiko-chan and I…”  She looked up at Kaoru with a tear stained face.  “They’re going to kill him aren’t they?”

Kaoru glanced up as she saw Yahiko take down the first two men.  She heard his shouted challenge and she made a mental note to wash Yahiko’s mouth when she got a chance.  “You would never have been able to stop that man,” Kaoru told her firmly.  “Believe me I know, when he wants’ something he doesn’t care who he has to hurt to get it.”  Kaoru’s thoughts on the night he had held a sword to her throat, she remembered the look of horror and fury on her father’s face.  She shook her head and continued.  “Besides Yahiko may be a foul mouth brat but he’s got talent so just leave this to him and when he wins you had better say no when someone asks you to do something like this again, no matter what the old customs were.  It doesn’t matter that the law says we’re all equal now if we don’t start acting like it.  Got it?”

Tsubame nodded with the beginnings of hope sparkling in her eyes.  “Yes Kaoru-san.” She promised.  _If Yahiko-chan’s own master believes that he can win then I should believe in him too._

“What are you idiots doing?” Lord Miko yelled after Yahiko had taken the first two down and screamed his challenge.  “Go one at a time.”  He ordered.

Another man stepped forward and Yahiko waited until he was three steps away before springing forward with a thrust to the chest.  The man moved to defend but in that instant Yahiko fell to his knees, adjusted his grip, and redirected his sword into a cut at the legs knocking the man to the ground with a scream of pain.  Yahiko then brought his shinai down across the man’s face and broke his nose before leaping back to his feet and backing up a few paces to give himself room to face his next attacker.

Kaoru saw his movements and felt a surge of pride.  _I taught him that trick!_

Yahiko focused his breathing like Kaoru had taught him, a fierce grin spreading across his face.  _Three down, three to go.  Come on Yahiko you can do this._

The man with the broken nose was grabbed by his friends and dragged out of the way, the first two Yahiko had taken down were also pulled back as they started to regain consciousness.

Suddenly Lord Miko started laughing and his men glanced at him in shock.  “I get it now,” he sneered.  “You only pretended to be cornered but you were really only trying to set us up in a narrow place so you could fight us one at a time.  Not bad thinking for a kid.”  He pulled down his scarf as he surveyed Yahiko. “Too bad it means your death since you’ve got nowhere to run.” He told him with a cold grin, he turned to his men.  “Use your daggers and throw them at the brat.”

His men looked at him with wide eyes.  “But that’ll kill the kid,” one protested.

“Who cares?” Lord Mikio sneered.  “Street trash like him isn’t going to be missed, and so long as we bury the body no one will know.”

His men turned with cold certainty as they faced Yahiko, pulling out their razor sharp daggers and prepared to follow out their orders.

_Oh shit!_   Yahiko thought in desperation as he desperately searched for a way out but there were no doors, and nothing to hide behind.  _I’m really going to die here aren’t I?_   Yahiko sneered at the men as he crouched and brought his shinai up as the men slowly approached him and took their aim.  _Damn it, if I’m going to die here then I’m going out fighting._   He shifted his weight, preparing to leap forward.

At that moment when Yahiko was about to spring forward a pebble came flying out of nowhere and struck the first man in the face.  In confusion, he and the others glanced up to the roof of the building behind Yahiko and their eyes widen in shock. 

From where Yahiko was he couldn’t see what made the men gasp in shock but both Kaoru and Tsubame got a clear view.  Tsubame gasped and tugged on Kaoru’s sleeve.  “Who are they?”

Kaoru smiled smugly as she looked at the familiar figures of Kenshin and Sanosuke outlined against the waxing moon.  She watched Kenshin and Sanosuke glare down at the men, Sanosuke started cracking his fists and Kenshin drew his sakabato and held it before him, the blade catching the light of the moon.  “Just some friends that will never hear the end of this,” Kaoru replied primly.  _And they told me I was mothering him, not letting him stand on his own two feet, and that I need to let him fight this on his own.  Meanwhile they sneak off to help Yahiko behind my back.  Oh they are_ so _never going to hear the end of this._

“That swordsmen, the cross shaped scar,” one of the men gasped as he looked at Kenshin.  “I’ve heard of that Rurouni, he’s supposed to be invincible.”

“And he’s the fighter-for-hire Zanza,” another of the men asked as he glance at Sanosuke in fear.  Sanosuke let a fierce grin cross his lips as he looked down at the men in anticipation.

As one the men’s courage broke and they turned and ran past Lord Mikio and for the open street.  “Run or it’ll be our bodies they bury!”

“Hey wait!” Lord Miko yelled.  “What the hell are you running from?” he demanded, not having seen Kenshin and Sanosuke.  He glanced back to the roof.  Likewise, Yahiko took a few steps forward so he could also look at the rooftop. 

_Did those guys seriously show up here?_   Yahiko wondered.  _How the hell would they even know though?_   But all Yahiko saw when he looked back was an empty roof.  _Weird._

Kenshin and Sanosuke managed to get over the apex of the roof and crouch down before either Lord Miko or Yahiko spotted them.

“Guess that’s all we can do for now,” Sanosuke muttered.

“It would seem so,” Kenshin replied looking at Sanosuke with a sideways glance.  “But why did you come?”

Sanosuke scoffed, “knew you would be here.”  _Besides I can’t let that punk get himself killed._

Kenshin’s eyes widen, “but how?  No one was told, not even Kaoru-dono.”  _At least she’s not here,_ Kenshin thought with relief.  _I’m glad that this time she listened to me._

“Of course I knew you’d be here,” Sanosuke responded.  “this may be ‘Yahiko’s battle’ but it’s Tsubame and the Akabeko who’ll suffer if he loses and you can’t leave innocents in danger.  Besides you’re too damn nice to throw him to the wolves.”

Kenshin gave him a long look, “is that a compliment or an insult?”

“Anyways, isn’t this Yahiko’s first real fight against a real swordsmen?” Sanosuke asked to redirect Kenshin.

“Yes,” Kenshin responded as they risked peeking over the roof to see Yahiko and Lord Miko squaring off.  “But at least this is truly a one on one.”

While Sanosuke and Kenshin were talking Lord Miko recovered from the loss of his men, he pulled out a sheath from under his haori and unsheathed a katana.  “This is why street thugs are useless,” he sneered. “They run when a real samurai stands and fights.”

Yahiko gasped as he found himself facing a real katana.  _Don’t screw up, don’t screw up,_ Yahiko repeated frantically to himself.  He felt his knees starting to shake in fear.

“Never thought I would have to use my skill as a master in the Kogen Itto-ryu on a kid like you.”  With that he sprang forward into a thrust to Yahiko’s face.

_Don’t screw up, don’t screw up,_ Yahiko thought desperately as he saw the blade and moved his head as he stepped to the side.  Just as his arm extended Lord Mikio changed the blades direction and swung it towards Yahiko who ducked and the blade slashed through the wooden gate behind him as though it was butter.  Meanwhile Yahiko dashed to the other side breathing hard.  _Holy crap, I can see it!_   Yahiko thought in excitement as Lord Miko moved to attack him again and Yahiko kept light on his feet as he dodged the next attack, trying to get close enough to land a hit on Lord Mikio.  _I can see the swing of a real swordsman now.  Damn, does this mean I have Kaoru to thank?_

“Damn you punk!” Lord Mikio yelled as he dropped to his knees slashing at Yahiko’s legs. 

Yahiko saw the attack and his eyes widen in shock, _I can’t lose, people are counting on me!_ He thought fiercely, this time he leaped in the air, intending to jump over the blade.  However, his tired muscles didn’t allow him to leap as high as he intended and he dropped back to the ground right as Lord Mikio’s sword was passing below him.  Both of Yahiko’s feet hit the sword and his weight combined with angle of the sword as it was driven into the ground by Yahiko’s fall caused the blade to snap.

Yahiko’s also brought his shinai down in a head cut with that same motion of his leap, hitting Lord Mikio solidly across the skull and knocking him unconscious.  As he fell to the ground, Yahiko crouched where he had landed and stared at what he had done.  _Damn, can’t believe I broke his sword.  And on the plus side I’m still alive.  Oh and I think I won this round.  Damn it, maybe I do have to thank Kaoru for this._

“Yahiko-chan, you did it, you really beat them!” Tsubame yelled as she ran forward to him happily.

Yahiko glanced up in surprise.  “Tsubame what are you doing out here?  It’s the middle of the night, you should be at home, it’s not safe for you to be out here on your own.”

“Oh I’m not alone, Kaoru-san, your master was with me,” Tsubame assured him.

“What?” Yahiko asked as the full implications of Tsubame’s words struck him.  He turned in rage to the shadows she had appeared from.  “Kaoru!” Yahiko yelled in fury.  Bashfully Kaoru came out of hiding and limped forward as Yahiko glared at her in fury.

“Yahiko, you did it.  I’m so proud of you!” Kaoru exclaimed.  Seemingly oblivious to the glare Yahiko was giving her.  “But you could have left me something to do you know.”  She scolded him mildly.  She stared down in distaste at Lord Mikio’s unresponsive form.  “It’s no fun beating up someone who isn’t even conscious,” she commented as she jabbed Lord Miko hard in the back with one of her crutches.  “No fun at all,” she said sadly, as she jabbed him again.

“Then why are you hitting him?” Yahiko growled at her while Tsubame looked at her in shock.

“I dunno, it’s kind of funny don’t you think?” Kaoru asked as she jabbed him again.

Yahiko shook his head as he looked away, _Sano might have had it right when he called Kaoru a crazy bitch, but at least’s she’s on our side, most of the time anyways._   “Whatever,” Yahiko scoffed, ignoring the fact that Kaoru was continuing to hit Lord Mikio, he turned to the roof behind him where two heads rapidly ducked behind the apex of the roof.  “And you two on the roof!” Yahiko yelled.

Kenshin and Sanosuke looked at each other in shock.

“Crick, crick, cricket, cricket, crick,” they started in a poor imitation of a cicada. 

“There aren’t any cicada’s yet you morons!” Yahiko screamed.  _What kind of idiot do they take me for anyways?_   He glared at the roof as two heads shamefully rose above it and Kenshin and Sanosuke climbed over the roof and slid down to the alleyway below.

“Hello Yahiko, lovely night isn’t it?” Kenshin asked brightly.

“Yeah, perfect night for a walk wouldn’t you agree?” Sanosuke added.

Yahiko rolled his eyes and rested his shinai over his shoulder.  “You people never know when to leave a guy alone do you?” he asked.  _Even though your showing up probably saved my life._   “And Kaoru will you stop hitting him already?” Yahiko demanded.

Kaoru stopped mid jab with a sigh, “guess you’re right.”

“Um I just want to…” Tsubame started with downcast eyes.

“You don’t have to thank me,” Yahiko responded, cutting her off.  “I just can’t stand it when I see people all scared and jumpy like you, that’s all.” 

“I know that,” she replied softly.  “I’m going to try to stronger from now on.”

“Well that’s great but it still doesn’t explain why the brat took that job at the Akabeko,” Sanosuke injected suddenly.  Turning the conversation back to the original problem everyone else had all but forgotten at that moment.

Yahiko’s eyes widened.  “Um, you guys know about that?”

“Yep, so start talking Yahiko before I start a beating of my own,” Kaoru warned him.

Yahiko gulped.  “Oh all right, it’s cause I’m saving up to buy a sakabato like Kenshin’s for when I’m as good as he is.”

That statement hung in the air for several moments before Kaoru and Sanosuke exploded into laughter.  Even Kenshin started chuckling.  Yahiko felt his face growing red from embarrassment.  “What’s so funny?!” he demanded.  He glanced at Tsubame and was relieved that she at least wasn’t laughing at him.  _At least_ she _takes me seriously, these morons on the other hand…_

“Yahiko wants a sakabato, now that’s the best joke I’ve heard in months!” Sanosuke roared.

Kenshin took pity on Yahiko and stopped laughing for a moment to explain.  “One cannot just buy a sakabato,” Kenshin explained.

“What are you talking about, you got one didn’t you?”  Yahiko pointed out.

Kenshin shook his head, “this was a gift from a sword smith this one knew long ago.  But there is no one who makes these kinds of blades.”

“So fine I get someone to make me one, big deal.” Yahiko glumly replied as Sanosuke was now doubled over, holding on to Kenshin’s shoulder to keep himself upright, still overcome with laughter.

Kaoru had finally recovered for her own laughing bout.  “Yahiko, I doubt you could find someone to make you one.  A sakabato was just a theory proposed by, what’s-his-name?” Kaoru looked to Kenshin for an answer but he just shrugged back at her.  “Anyways,” Kaoru went on with a shake of her head.  “The guy wasn’t that important to the history of kenjutsu anyways.  But he proposed the idea of the sakabato as something of a practice sword.  But no one took him seriously.  Kenshin’s sakabato is the only one I know of in existence.”

“Oh,” Yahiko replied downfallen.  _Then how am I going to get a sakabato like Kenshin’s then?_   “Whatever,” he replied with his old fire.  “I’ll find someone who’ll make me one when I’ve got enough money,” he told them firmly.

Kenshin and Kaoru grinned at him, “of course you will Yahiko.” They replied together.

“Anyways, Sano, stop dragging this one down and be useful and see Tsubame home will you?” Kenshin pleaded as he struggled to hold himself upright against Sanosuke’s bulk which was slowly pulling him down.

Sanosuke straightened up, tears streaming down his face, still chuckling.  “Yeah, sure,” he replied wiping his face.  “Come on little miss, let’s you get in bed where you belong.”

“Go on, he’s not quite as bad as he looks,” Kaoru encouraged her as Tsubame look a little unsure of her escort.  Hesitantly she led the way down the street, about halfway to the corner she stopped, turned, and ran back. 

“Thank you Yahiko-kun,” she told him firmly before kissing him on the check.  Then she pulled back quickly, blushing at her audacity, and turned and ran just as quickly down the street and around the corner.  Sanosuke stood at the corner looking back for a moment before letting out a whistle and disappearing around the corner after Tsubame.

Kenshin and Kaoru looked at Yahiko in amusement as he stood there with a shocked look on his face.

“Um, Yahiko, still there?” Kaoru asked slowly, a wide grin on her face.

“Maybe he’s still dazed from all the excitement of his fight,” Kenshin added in merriment as Yahiko continued standing there, completely stunned.

“I wonder if another visit from Tsubame will wake him up?” Kaoru asked and Kenshin shrugged back at her.

“Who knows, should this one go and get her?”

By that point Yahiko had tuned into their conversation and he glared at the two of them before walking off muttering angrily to himself.

Laughing Kenshin and Kaoru followed several yards behind him as they slowly made their way home.  “So you two telling me to stay out of this whole affair and then both of you showing up to help Yahiko doesn’t seem a little inconsistent to you does it?” Kaoru asked with an arched brow.

“No, not inconsistent at all, that it wasn’t.” Kenshin responded straight-faced.

Kaoru gave him a pointed look, “and how’s that?”

“Neither one of us hit Lord Miko when he was down, you did that on your own, that you did.”  Kenshin pointed out.  _Even though it was kinda of funny._

“That’s was just ‘cause it was funny, besides he had it coming.”  Kaoru waved him off.  “So should we stop teasing Yahiko about his crush or make him suffer merciless for it?”

Kenshin thought for a moment, “tonight let’s let it slid, tomorrow we make him suffer.”

Kaoru laughed, “I’m really rubbing off on you guys aren’t I?”

“Perhaps you are,” Kenshin agreed.

“Anyways, just so you know, everything’s set up for us when we leave for Izu in a week in a half, we’ll be staying with Doctor Gensei’s sister there and she’s eager to meet all of us.  Oh and Doctor Gensei wants Megumi to come with us, there’s some plants he wants’ her to collect from the area.  And Ayame and Suzume are coming with us too since they’re never gotten to meet their great aunt before.  Doctor Gensei’s already agreed to look after the dojo and Freckles while we’re gone.”  Kaoru informed him.

Kenshin nodded, “it sounds as though we will all have a good time there.”

“Yeah,” Kaoru responded happily.  “I can’t wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This concludes this particular story, the next book will be starting next week, stay tuned!


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